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 clues.
What should you do once you’re done? Well, play more word games, of course. I also have daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc’s Wordle’s current page covers the original viral word game.
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 #589): Today’s Words
Today’s words from NYT Connections are…
- COOKIE
- BEAR
- SPINACH
- SHOULDER
- THIEF
- ANCHOR
- ELBOW
- CHEAT
- TUBE
- DRIVE
- FOLD
- FOREARM
- EQUIPPED
- ANGLE
- ASSUME
- BALANCE
NYT Connections Today (Game #589) – Clue #1 – Group Hints
What are some leads for current NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: control the situation
- GREEN: You turn these around
- PURPLE: Add a word that rhymes with “orderly”
- BLUE: muscular sailor
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 #589) – Clue #2 – Group Answers
What are the answers for current NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: ASSUME, AS RESPONSIBILITY
- GREEN: CORNERS
- PURPLE: LEAF
- BLUE: ASSOCIATED WITH POPEYE
Well, the answers are below, so DON’T SCROLL FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections Today (Game #589): The Answers
The answers to today’s Connections game #589 are…
- YELLOW: ASSUME, AS RESPONSIBILITY ASSUME, BEAR, HANDLE, SHOULDER
- GREEN: CORNERS ANGLE, CURVE, CURVE, ELBOW
- PURPLE: LEAF BALANCE, TRICK, COOKIE, EQUIPPED
- BLUE: ASSOCIATED WITH POPEYE ANCHOR, FOREARM, TUBE, SPINACH
- My rating: Hard
- My score: 3 mistakes
SPINACH will always be ASSOCIATED WITH POPEYE, the leafy vegetable that gives you superhuman strength and gives parents of all generations an example of why you should eat greens. But I could have looked at the other three words over and over again and never understood the link: PRE-ARMED? – congratulations to anyone who has worked that one.
Interestingly, bicep tears or ruptures caused by people trying to mirror their bulging muscles are called Popeye deformity. What a legacy!
Meanwhile, before I struggled with Purple and Blue, I became obsessed with thinking that a group of words had to be about plumbing and although you can find pipes that come in ELBOW and SHOULDER shapes it also sounded like a specialized type of PIPE, I was overthinking the obvious. CORNERS.
Answers from yesterday’s NYT Connections (Sunday, January 19, game #588)
- YELLOW: BACKGROUND KITTEN, POOL, POT, PURSE
- GREEN: COURT PRESENTATION ACTION, CASE, CLAIM, TRIAL
- BLUE: TERRESTRIAL BASIN, cliff, cape, plain
- PURPLE: THEY HAVE RAYS AQUARIUS, GEOMETRY, SUN, TAMPA BAY
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 elements 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.
