NYT Connections Today — Hints and Answers for Saturday, July 20 (Contest #405)
It’s the weekend! And that means you have another chance to solve a weekend Connections puzzle: they’re the same as the weekday Connections puzzles, but on the weekend. Yay! Read on for my hints and commentary on today’s game.
What do you do when you’re done? Well, play some word games of course. I also have daily Wordle hints and answers , Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help with those too.
SPOILER ALERT: Below is information about today’s NYT Connections. So don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.
NYT Connections Today (Contest #405) – Today’s Words
The words of today’s NYT Connections are…
- USED TO BE
- MUMMY
- GIFT
- ANCHOR
- BURRITO
- GIFT
- CLAY
- PAPYRUS
- SPRAIN
- FLAIR
- MODERATE
- TALENT
- INSTINCT
- PARCHMENT
- HOST
- FACULTY
NYT Connections Today (Contest #405) – Hint #1 – Group Hints
What are some clues to the current NYT Connections groups?
- Yellow: Just add a stylus
- Vegetable: Little screen star
- Blue: Innate
- Purple: We have arranged it
Do you need more pointers?
We’re really getting into 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 #405) – Hint #2 – Group Answers
What are the answers for the current NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: OLD WRITING SURFACES
- GREEN: LEAD, AS A TV PROGRAM
- BLUE: NATURAL POWER
- PURPLE: COMPLICATED THINGS
Okay, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections Today (Contest #405) – The Answers
The answers to today’s Connections game, game #405, are…
- YELLOW: OLD WRITING SURFACES CLAY, PAPYRUS, PARCHMENT, WAX
- GREEN: LEAD, AS A TV PROGRAM ANCHOR, HOST, MODERATE, PRESENT
- BLUE: NATURAL POWER FACULTY, FLAIR, INSTINCT, TALENT
- PURPLE: COMPLICATED THINGS BURRITO, GIFT, MUMMY, SPREAD
- My score: Simple
- My score: 1 error
There was more classic NYT misdirection in today’s Connections puzzle, and it cost me an early guess. I put GIFT, TALENT, INSTINCT, and FLAIR together, but GIFT just didn’t seem to fit with the others (although it could have). Nor did it fit with PRESENT, which was instead used in the context of “LEAD, AS A TV PROGRAM,” along with ANCHOR, HOST, and MODERATE.
Instead, GIFT was part of the purple group, which I solved myself for the first time instead of getting by default. This was a pretty decent one of ‘WRAPPED THINGS’, along with BURRITO, MUMMY and SPRAIN; you couldn’t get a more diverse Connections group, but one that also makes perfect sense once you’ve solved it.
How was your day? Send me an email and let me know.
Answers from yesterday on NYT Connections (Friday, July 19, Contest #404)
- YELLOW: ROMANTIC PARTNER FLAME, LOVER, STANDARD, LOVE
- GREEN: INSULT BURN, DIG, STAKE, LIGHT
- BLUE: GASOLINE PUMP OPTIONS DIESEL, PLUS, PREMIUM, REGULAR
- PURPLE: ___ TABLE COFFEE, PERIODIC, POOL, WATER
What is NYT Connections?
NYT Connections is one of the increasingly popular word games from the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that have something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a bit harder, blue is often quite difficult, and purple is usually very difficult.
On the plus side, you don’t technically have to solve the last question, because you can answer it by elimination. Plus, you can make a maximum of four mistakes, which gives you some breathing room.
It is a bit more complicated than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For example, watch out for homophones and other wordplay that can obscure the answers.
It is free to play via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
