Find the links between the words to win today’s game of Connections.
Looking for Sunday’s Connections hints and answers instead? You can find them here:
Hey there, folks! Welcome to the start of a new week.
I normally leave the music/movie/game/life recommendations until the end of the column, but I’m going to give you a second one today. Simply because it’s Monday, and we probably could all use a pick-me-up. So turn this one up loud, dance it out and get some of that sweet dopamine flowing:
Before we begin, I’ve set up a discussion group for Connections and this column on Discord. You can chat about each game (and other topics) with me and other folks. I’m always interested to find out how other people approach the game, so join us! It’s fun.
It’s also the best way to give me any feedback about the column, especially on the rare(!) occasions that I mess something up.
Today’s NYT Connections hints and answers for Monday, February 17, are coming right up.
How To Play Connections
Connections is a free, popular New York Times daily word game. You get a new puzzle at midnight every day. You can play on the NYT website or Games app.
You’re presented with a grid of 16 words. Your task is to arrange them into four groups of four by figuring out the links between them. The groups could be things like items you can click, names for research study participants or words preceded by a body part.
There’s only one solution for each puzzle, and you’ll need to be careful when it comes to words that might fit into more than one category. You can shuffle the words to perhaps help you see links between them.
Each group is color coded. The yellow group is usually the easiest to figure out, blue and green fall in the middle, and the purple group is usually the most difficult one. The purple group often involves wordplay.
Select four words you think go together and press Submit. If you make a guess and you’re incorrect, you’ll lose a life. If you’re close to having a correct group, you might see a message telling you that you’re one word away from getting it right, but you’ll still need to figure out which one to swap.
If you make four mistakes, it’s game over. Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen with the help of some hints, and, if you’re really struggling, today’s Connections answers. As with Wordle and other similar games, it’s easy to share results with your friends on social media and group chats.
If you have an NYT All Access or Games subscription, you can access the publication’s Connections archive. This includes every previous game of Connections, so you can go back and play any of those that you have missed.
Aside from the first 60 games or so, you should be able to find my hints for each grid via Google if you need them! Just click here and add the date of the game for which you need clues or the answers to the search query.
What Are Today’s Connections Hints?
Scroll slowly! Just after the hints for each of today’s Connections groups, I’ll reveal what the groups are without immediately telling you which words go into them.
Today’s 16 words are…
- DOUBLE
- BLOW
- SNAKE
- BREAK
- LEAVE
- WIND
- CAT
- STRIKE
- SPARE
- REST
- SWORD
- WEAVE
- VACATION
- CURVE
- TURKEY
- GOLD
And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:
- Yellow group — get away from it all
- Green group — take the long road
- Blue group —
- Purple group — “go” and “angel” would fit in here
What Are Today’s Connections Groups?
Need some extra help?
Be warned: we’re starting to get into spoiler territory.
Today’s Connections groups are…
- Yellow group — time off
- Green group — follow a meandering course
- Blue group — bowling results
- Purple group — ____fish
What Are Today’s Connections Answers?
Spoiler alert! Don’t scroll any further down the page until you’re ready to find out today’s Connections answers.
This is your final warning!
Today’s Connections answers are…
- Yellow group — time off (BREAK, LEAVE, REST, VACATION)
- Green group — follow a meandering course (CURVE, SNAKE, WEAVE, WIND)
- Blue group — bowling results (DOUBLE, SPARE, STRIKE, TURKEY)
- Purple group — ____fish (BLOW, CAT, GOLD, SWORD)
Hooray, a perfect game for me today (and I don’t mean in bowling). That takes my overall streak up to 11 wins. Here’s how I fared:
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟩🟩🟩🟩
I had no problems at all with this one. I spotted the bowling terms right away. No lie, I got three strikes in a row, a.k.a. a TURKEY, as a kid. Admittedly, it was a type of bowling with smaller balls and pins, but it still counts!
I had to use that video for the clue. It made for an easier hint than I’d normally like to have for a blue, but I couldn’t resist (plus, this is supposed to be fun!).
The yellows were next. I had time off over the holidays, but I’m ready for some more please universe, thank you.
The greens then jumped out at me, but I had to submit the purples first, because of course I did. I figured out the connection for those before sending them through this time around.
With a little more patience, I probably could have had a reverse rainbow here. But as though I’d like to be able to write everything out and methodically figure out all the groups and the likely colors for each before submitting anything, I’m much too impatient for that.
I am an agent of chaos and live life through vibes. I trust my gut and tend to just go with that most of the time. That often leads to mistakes (both in Connections and in life), but the strategy works for me more often than it doesn’t. Both in life and in Connections.
That’s all there is to it for today’s Connections clues and answers. Be sure to check my blog tomorrow for hints and the solution for Tuesday’s game if you need them.
P.S. I wrote a bit the other day about Tropic Thunder and how much I enjoy silly comedy movies. One I’ve always liked that’s relevant to today’s game is Kingpin, given that bowling is at the heart of the story.
It’s often vulgar and frequently crosses the line between good and bad taste. But goodness, is it funny:
Have a great day! Stay hydrated! Call someone you love!
If you’re so inclined, please do follow my blog for more coverage of Connections and other word games and even some video game news, insights and analysis. It helps me out a lot! Also, follow me on Bluesky! It’s fun there.
