And so the weekend comes to an end with a really difficult Connections puzzle. Or is it? Well, I certainly struggled, but maybe you won't. If you do, there are hints below.
What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Wordle hints and answers, Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
Marc is TechRadar’s Global Editor in Chief and has been obsessed with Wordle and its ilk for more than two years. He's authored dozens of articles on the game for TechRadar, including a daily today's Wordle answer column and a detailed analysis of the most common letters in Wordle in every position. He's also played every Wordle ever and only lost once and yes, he takes it all too seriously.
NYT Connections today (game #385) - today's words
Today's NYT Connections words are…
- ASH
- ELECTRIC
- SAW
- JET
- GAS
- CHESTNUT
- FILTER
- GUM
- EBONY
- MAXIM
- WOOD
- HEATER
- PUMP
- CHERRY
- CHARCOAL
- ADAGE
NYT Connections today (game #385) - hint #1 - group hints
What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?
- Yellow: A saying from the past
- Green: Fire up the barbecue
- Blue: Woody types
- Purple: No bubbles without these
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 #385) - hint #2 - group answers
What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: OLD SAYING
- GREEN: GRILL FUEL SOURCES
- BLUE: TREES
- PURPLE: HOT TUB COMPONENTS
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #385) - the answers
The answers to today's Connections, game #385, are…
- YELLOW: OLD SAYING ADAGE, CHESTNUT, MAXIM, SAW
- GREEN: GRILL FUEL SOURCES CHARCOAL, ELECTRIC, GAS, WOOD
- BLUE: TREES ASH, CHERRY, EBONY, GUM
- PURPLE: HOT TUB COMPONENTS FILTER, HEATER, JET, PUMP
- My rating: Hard
- My score: 3 mistakes
Woah! This was a tough one. A really tough one. I made three mistakes in solving it, and frankly it was a lot harder than the ones I failed last week. The problem here (for me at least) was that so many of the possible answers could have gone together. That's always (or often) a factor in Connections, of course, but today the problem was particularly pronounced.
For instance, I guessed trees first, putting CHERRY, ASH, CHESTNUT and GUM together. No dice. So I tried heat sources, with WOOD, ELECTRIC, GAS and HEATER. But wrong again. And then I thought maybe there was something about hair color: CHESTNUT, EBONY, ASH, CHERRY. But that was incorrect too.
After many minutes of deliberation, I put the 'Hot tub components' group together and solved what was supposedly the most difficult of the four. Then revisited the fuel-related answers and worked out that charcoal finished that group.
Next, I focused on ADAGE and MAXIM, which I could see must go together and which didn't fit elsewhere so easily. I thought maybe SAW might be connected, then realized that 'old chestnut' also fit, and solved the yellow group. And that left the blue trees group for me to solve by default; my missing answer earlier had been EBONY, which I knew was a type of wood so I don't know why I didn't think of it at the time.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Saturday, 29 June, game #384)
- BLUE: PLACED DOWN LAID, PLACED, PUT, SAT
- GREEN: CONNECT COUPLE, TIE, UNITE, WED
- YELLOW: HOMOPHONES TO, TOO, TUE, TWO
- PURPLE: ___FLOWER MAY, SUN, WALL, WILD
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.