Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.
Today’s NYT Connections puzzle offers a fun purple category. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.
The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.
Read more:Â Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time
Hints for today’s Connections groups
Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.
Yellow group hint: Healthy food.
Green group hint: Widespread.
Blue group hint: Ebony and ivory.
Purple group hint: Cheers!
Answers for today’s Connections groups
Yellow group: Vegetable parts.
Green group: Prevailing.
Blue group: Parts of a piano.
Purple group: Second halves of drink names.
Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words
What are today’s Connections answers?
The completed NYT Connections puzzle for April 17, 2026.
NYT/Screenshot by CNETThe yellow words in today’s Connections
The theme is vegetable parts. The four answers are bulb, leaf, root and stem.
The green words in today’s Connections
The theme is prevailing. The four answers are common, dominant, general and popular.
The blue words in today’s Connections
The theme is parts of a piano. The four answers are hammer, key, pedal and string.
The purple words in today’s Connections
The theme is second halves of drink names. The four answers are soda, stormy, tan and tonic.
Toughest Connections puzzles
We’ve made a note of some of the toughest Connections puzzles so far. Maybe they’ll help you see patterns in future puzzles.
#5: Included “things you can set,” such as mood, record, table and volleyball.
#4: Included “one in a dozen,” such as egg, juror, month and rose.
#3: Included “streets on screen,” such as Elm, Fear, Jump and Sesame.
#2: Included “power ___” such as nap, plant, Ranger and trip.
#1: Included “things that can run,” such as candidate, faucet, mascara and nose.