Find the links between the words to win today’s game of Connections.
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Each day’s game of NYT Connections goes live at midnight local time. Before today’s NYT Connections hints, here’s what you missed on Wednesday:
ForbesNYT Connections Hints Today: Wednesday, February 25 Clues And Answers (#990)By Kris HoltForbesNYT Connections Today: Answers Explained For Wednesday, February 25 (#990)By Kris Holt
Hey there, Connectors! I hope you’ve had a great week so far.
I was fortunate enough to see Nine Inch Nails live last week. I’d seen them once before, at a festival when I was but a young lad. This was my first experience of them in an arena.
Man, what a show. The band were on point and Trent Reznor’s vocals sounded great.
But what really impressed me was the production. The show was split into four acts. The first and third took place on a smaller stage in the middle of the floor and the second and fourth were on the main stage. During the second act, transparent curtains were hung around the main stage. This allowed for some really cool projection work.
Someone made a multicam edit of the whole Montreal show and shared it on YouTube. I’m glad it’s there, especially because I’m really trying to keep my phone in my pocket during gigs these days. I didn’t take it out once during the NIN show.
I’m probably never going to look at photos or videos I capture at shows again anyway, unless I go back to share them on social media. Chances are that other people will post videos on YouTube anyway. This was the case regarding the Electric Callboy show I went to in Paris in January. I rewatch that set all the time. And I’m glad I can enjoy most shows in the moment without having to worry about not being able to revisit them later.
Before we start, I want to mention the great community we have on Discord, where we chat about Connections, the rest of the NYT games and all kinds of other stuff. It’s a lovely, welcoming group of folks. I like to call it our cozy little corner of the internet. You’re more than welcome to join us. Don’t be shy!
Today’s NYT Connections hints and answers for Thursday, February 26 are coming right up. Let’s get rolling!
NYT Connections – How To Play
Connections is a free New York Times daily word game that you can play on the NYT’s website or Games app. If you have an NYT All Access or Games subscription, you can access the Connections archive, which includes every previous game.
Connections presents you with a grid of 16 words (sometimes phrases, symbols or numbers). The aim is to arrange them into four groups of four. You don’t know how they hit together or what the category for each group is: that’s what you have to figure out.
There’s only one correct solution and there are often red herrings. You can guess incorrectly three times. A fourth wrong guess, and it’s game over.
Each group is color coded. The yellow group is usually the easiest to deduce, followed by blue, green and purple. Often, the yellow and green groups have synonyms, the blues have cultural references and the purples have some kind of wordplay involved. But this is not a hard and fast rule. Be ready for curveballs – part of the fun of Connections is in how the NYT shakes things up to keep you on your toes.
As with Wordle and similar games, it’s easy to share results with your friends using an emoji-based grid. The game tracks your progress too.
Many players take pride in having long win streaks or getting a reverse rainbow – correctly guessing the purple, blue, green and yellow groups in that order with no mistakes. That adds an extra little challenge.
NYT Connections Hints – Today’s Word List
Scroll slowly! I’ll first give you a list of today’s words, then a hint for each category. After that, I’ll reveal one word that goes into each group. Then I’ll tell you the category names, followed by the full answers.
Today’s 16 words are…
SHAMROCKDRUMROLLPUNCHLINEMILESTONEPRETTYWATERSHEDGRASSHOPPERLANDMARKCHECKTIMINGATTENTIONSTATUE OF LIBERTYSETUPWASABICALLBACKCROSSROADSNYT Connections Hints
And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:
🟨 Yellow group — an important part of a journey🟩 Green group — like bamboo, fern and zucchini🟦 Blue group — as Tommy DeVito asked (maybe literally?) in Goodfellas, “funny, how?”🟪 Purple group — ask nicely and you may receiveNYT Connections Hints – One Answer Per Group
Need some extra help?
Be warned: we’re starting to get into spoiler territory.
Let’s take a look at one answer for each group.
Here we go…
🟨 Yellow group — LANDMARK🟩 Green group — WASABI🟦 Blue group — SETUP🟪 Purple group — CHECKNYT Connections Hints – Groups/Categories
Today’s Connections groups are…
🟨 Yellow group — pivotal point🟩 Green group — green things 🟦 Blue group — elements of joke-telling🟪 Purple group — “____, please”NYT 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 last chance to look away.
This is your final warning!
Today’s Connections answers are…
🟨 Yellow group — pivotal point (CROSSROADS, LANDMARK, MILESTONE, WATERSHED)🟩 Green group — green things (GRASSHOPPER, SHAMROCK, STATUE OF LIBERTY, WASABI)🟦 Blue group — elements of joke-telling (CALLBACK, PUNCHLINE, SETUP, TIMING)🟪 Purple group — “____, please” (ATTENTION, CHECK, DRUMROLL, PRETTY)
WATERSHED and MILESTONE helped me get the yellows quite quickly. The green things were up next after I spent quite some time mulling over what the heck WASABI had to do with the rest of these words.
From there, SETUP and PUNCHLINE made the blues jump out at me.
The purple category didn’t click for me until after I submitted the group. While I can see how this sort of makes sense, I don’t like this group at all. It’s way too nebulous to me.
That said, a regular rainbow gave me my 362nd win in a row.
How did you get on today? Here’s my grid:
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟪🟪🟪🟪
Want to know more about how everything fits together? Let’s explore today’s game in more depth in my NYT Connections Answers Explained column right here:
ForbesNYT Connections Answers Explained: Thursday, February 26 (#991)By Kris Holt
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 Friday’s game if you need them.
P.S. I went down a little rabbit hole of songs that figure skaters use in their performances and found the array of music that Isabeau Levito has used fascinating, such as a Sophia Loren medley and tracks by Lana Del Ray and Madonna. In the first couple of years of her career, Levito used this song for her short program. Doris Day’s version of “Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps” is quite lovely:
Have a great day! Stay hydrated! Be kind to yourself and each other! Call someone you love!
Please follow my blog for more NYT Connections hints and help with other word games, and even some video game news, insights and analysis. It helps me out a lot! Sharing this column with other people who play Connections would be appreciated too. You can also read my weekend editions of this column at my newsletter, Pastimes.