Recommended reading

NYT Connections hints and answers for Thursday, May 22 (game #711)

News
By Contributions from published

My clues will help you solve the NYT's Connections puzzle today and keep that streak going

NYT Connections homescreen on a phone, on a purple background
(Image credit: New York Times)
Jump to:
Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Wednesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Wednesday, May 21 (game #710).

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #711) - today's words

NYT Connections hints for game 711 on a purple background

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

  • ASTERISK
  • SHREK
  • BRIDGE TROLL
  • POOL
  • HULK
  • SPHINX
  • CATCH
  • GRINCH
  • RIDDLER
  • ELPHABA
  • OBELISK
  • STRINGS
  • CAPITOL
  • CONDITION
  • MAD HATTER
  • MALL

NYT Connections today (game #711) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

  • YELLOW: One more thing… 
  • GREEN: It’s not easy being…
  • BLUE: As seen in the capital
  • PURPLE: Presenters of puzzles

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #711) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

  • YELLOW: FINE PRINT 
  • GREEN: CHARACTERS WITH GREEN SKIN 
  • BLUE: FEATURES OF THE NATIONAL MALL IN D.C. 
  • PURPLE: FAMOUS RIDDLE-GIVERS

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #711) - the answers

NYT Connections answers for game 711 on a purple background

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #711, are…

  • YELLOW: FINE PRINT ASTERISK, CATCH, CONDITION, STRINGS
  • GREEN: CHARACTERS WITH GREEN SKIN ELPHABA, GRINCH, HULK, SHREK
  • BLUE: FEATURES OF THE NATIONAL MALL IN D.C. CAPITOL, MALL, OBELISK, POOL
  • PURPLE: FAMOUS RIDDLE-GIVERS BRIDGE TROLL, MAD HATTER, RIDDLER, SPHINX
  • My rating: Hard
  • My score: 2 mistakes

Not my best day. I immediately thought that we had a group about CHARACTERS WITH GREEN SKIN, but only knew three for sure. Thinking that the category might extend beyond skin I added RIDDLER to GRINCH, HULK and SHREK because of his green suit. 

Using the tried and trusted technique of picking something that I had never seen or heard of before, I added ELPHABA, whom I now know is a character from Wicked, which I should have known as I’ve paid good money to see the stage musical. 

My second, on reflection, very dumb mistake was creating the FEATURES OF THE NATIONAL MALL IN D.C. group with the addition of SPHINX.

In my defence, Cleopatra’s Needle is a big obelisk in London, so I thought there might be some nod to ancient civilization among the US capital too. Oh well, I got there eventually.

How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Wednesday, May 21, game #710)

  • YELLOW: PROHIBIT, AS ENTRY BAR, BLOCK, DENY, REFUSE
  • GREEN: FOLDERS ON A MAC DESKTOP, MUSIC, PICTURES, TRASH
  • BLUE: MEDICINE FORMATS CREAM, PATCH, SPRAY, TABLET
  • PURPLE: THINGS THAT OPEN LIKE A CLAM CLAM, COMPACT, LAPTOP, WAFFLE IRON

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

Johnny Dee
Contributor

Johnny is a freelance pop culture journalist who has been writing about the internet, music, football and famous people since the iPhone was just a twinkle in Steve Jobs' eye. Previously known by the pseudonym the Pop Detective, his journalistic career began making up stories about Madonna's addiction to sausage rolls (this is not true by the way). A man of few talents, his career is rich and various and includes the highs of interviewing Elton John and Blur; and the lows of interviewing Right Said Fred, appearing on a Channel 5 documentary about Peter Kay, and fact-checking the instruction manual for a German cooker. Somehow still affording to live in North London he is at his happiest riding his bicycle and shouting at pigeons.

With contributions from

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.