Are you looking for a different day?
A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight every day for your time zone, which means some people are always playing “today’s game” while others play “yesterday’s game.” If instead you are looking for the Friday puzzle then click here: NYT Connections Tips & Answers for Friday, February 20 (Game #985).
Good day! Let’s play Connections, the NYT’s clever word game that challenges you to group answers into various categories. It can be difficult, so read on if you need Connections tips.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.
NYT Connections Today (Game #986): Today’s Words
Today’s words from NYT Connections are…
- LATE
- EXCELLENT
- PAST
- LIFE
- PRESENT
- HENCHMAN
- INFINITIVE
- PERFECT
- SOLID
- DODGERS
- TOILET
- BACKGROUND
- ABSENT
- AUDITS
- HISTORY
- PHEW
NYT Connections Today (Game #986) – Clue #1 – Group Hints
What are some leads for current NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: Inheritance
- GREEN: Marks on a record
- BLUE: Cheer up after completing this game.
- PURPLE: Starting with cars
Do you need more clues?
We’re firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the answers are to the four topics for today’s NYT Connections riddles…
NYT Connections Today (Game #986) – Clue #2 – Group Answers
What are the answers for current NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: EXPERIENCE
- GREEN: ATTENDANCE STATUS
- BLUE: COMMENT ON THE RESULTS OF YOUR CONNECTIONS
- PURPLE: CAR BRANDS PLUS TWO LETTERS
Well, the answers are below, so DON’T SCROLL FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections Today (Game #986): The Answers
The answers to today’s Connections game #986 are…
- YELLOW: EXPERIENCE BACKGROUND, HISTORY, LIFE, PAST
- GREEN: ATTENDANCE STATUS ABSENT, EXCUSED, LATE, PRESENT
- BLUE: COMMENT ON THE RESULTS OF YOUR CONNECTIONS EXCELLENT, PERFECT, UGH, SOLID
- PURPLE: CAR BRANDS PLUS TWO LETTERS AUDITS, DODGERS, INFINITIVE, MINION
- My rating: Easy
- My score: Perfect
I’ll be honest, despite playing over 900 Connections games, the only COMMENT ON CONNECTIONS RESULTS I’ve noticed is PHEW!
So instead of thinking today’s blue group was about Connections, I actually thought the link was “half-hearted encouraging comments you’d make to yourself.” Fortunately, the great thing about Connections is that you don’t need to know anything to successfully form a group.
EXPERIENCE helped me get today’s green group, as I had been working as an exam supervisor for a few months, which involved keeping track of ATTENDANCE STATUS, a useful opener in a game that I now know was PERFECT.
Answers from yesterday’s NYT Connections (Friday, February 20, game #985)
- YELLOW: QUICK SOLUTION EASY ANSWER, MAGIC WAND, PANACEA, SILVER BULLET
- GREEN: ASSOCIATED WITH THE MOON ECLIPSE, GREEN CHEESE, TIDE, WEREWOLF
- BLUE: ORIGINAL MONOPOLY CHIPS BOOT, IRON, THIMBLE, TOP HAT
- PURPLE: WHAT “JACK” COULD REFER TO CHEESE, DONKEY, GAME OF CARD, PLUG
What are NYT connections?
NYT Connections is one of the increasingly popular word games created 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 is a little harder, blue is usually quite difficult, and purple is usually very difficult.
On the plus side, you don’t technically need to solve the final question since you’ll be able to answer it through a process of elimination. What’s more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little breathing room.
However, it’s a little more complicated than something like Wordle and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For example, be careful with homophones and other puns that could disguise answers.
It can be played for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile devices.
