Find the links between the words to win today’s game of Connections.
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Looking for Tuesday’s Connections hints and answers instead? You can find them here:
It’s Wednesday, and you know what that means: it’s time for another round of Connections!
My partner took me to a spa this past weekend and we had a great time. It was my first time at a spa, and I’m mad at myself for living… the certain number of years that I have been on this Earth without ever going to one. She had a massage, but I stuck to the water circuit, which was relaxing enough by itself.
I think that helped us both unwind a bit. I’m already looking forward to my next visit.
Before we begin, I’ve set up a discussion group for Connections and this column on Discord. You can chat about each game (and other topics) with me and other folks. I’m always interested to find out how other people approach the game, so join us! It’s fun.
It’s also the best way to give me any feedback about the column, especially on the rare(!) occasions that I mess something up.
Today’s NYT Connections hints and answers for Wednesday, February 12, are coming right up.
How To Play Connections
Connections is a free, popular New York Times daily word game. You get a new puzzle at midnight every day. You can play on the NYT website or Games app.
You’re presented with a grid of 16 words. Your task is to arrange them into four groups of four by figuring out the links between them. The groups could be things like items you can click, names for research study participants or words preceded by a body part.
There’s only one solution for each puzzle, and you’ll need to be careful when it comes to words that might fit into more than one category. You can shuffle the words to perhaps help you see links between them.
Each group is color coded. The yellow group is usually the easiest to figure out, blue and green fall in the middle, and the purple group is usually the most difficult one. The purple group often involves wordplay.
Select four words you think go together and press Submit. If you make a guess and you’re incorrect, you’ll lose a life. If you’re close to having a correct group, you might see a message telling you that you’re one word away from getting it right, but you’ll still need to figure out which one to swap.
If you make four mistakes, it’s game over. Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen with the help of some hints, and, if you’re really struggling, today’s Connections answers. As with Wordle and other similar games, it’s easy to share results with your friends on social media and group chats.
If you have an NYT All Access or Games subscription, you can access the publication’s Connections archive. This includes every previous game of Connections, so you can go back and play any of those that you have missed.
Aside from the first 60 games or so, you should be able to find my hints for each grid via Google if you need them! Just click here and add the date of the game for which you need clues or the answers to the search query.
What Are Today’s Connections Hints?
Scroll slowly! Just after the hints for each of today’s Connections groups, I’ll reveal what the groups are without immediately telling you which words go into them.
Today’s 16 words are…
- SHAKESPEARE
- RATTLESNAKE
- ANDROID
- ROLLERBLADE
- SONG
- TITLE
- SKATEBOARD
- SKETCH
- DONUT
- DANCE
- DEED
- SAXOPHONE
- CERTIFICATE
- MONOLOGUE
- PACIFIER
- RECEIPT
And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:
- Yellow group — proof something is yours
- Green group — like a magic trick or circus act
- Blue group — associated with America’s real first family
- Purple group — a fittingly early Elvis tune
What Are Today’s Connections Groups?
Need some extra help?
Be warned: we’re starting to get into spoiler territory.
Today’s Connections groups are…
- Yellow group — documents of ownership
- Green group — bits in a variety show
- Blue group — props for characters on The Simpsons
- Purple group — starting with “Shake, Rattle and Roll”
What Are Today’s 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 final warning!
Today’s Connections answers are…
- Yellow group — documents of ownership (CERTIFICATE, DEED, RECIEPT, TITLE)
- Green group — bits in a variety show (DANCE, MONOLOGUE, SKETCH, SONG)
- Blue group — props for characters on The Simpsons (DONUT, PACIFIER, SAXOPHONE, SKATEBOARD)
- Purple group — starting with “Shake, Rattle and Roll” (SHAKESPEARE, RATTLESNAKE, ANDROID, ROLLERBLADE)
I could have had a reverse rainbow here, but I’ll take a perfect game and a sixth straight win. Here’s how I fared:
I spotted two groups right away, which turned out to be the yellows and greens. Looking elsewhere, SHAKESPEARE, RATTLESNAKE and ROLLERBLADE made sense together to me since they began with “shake,” “rattle” and “roll” respectively, but I wasn’t overly confident that they’d form three quarters of a group.
Given that, I figured I may as well submit the greens, then yellows to try and at least get a perfect game. But when I was down to just eight remaining words, it became immediately obvious that there was a group of things related to The Simpsons. I suspected those would be the blues, so I sent through what turned out to be the purples first.
My initial suspicion was correct! I was even more annoyed that I didn’t get that group, because those words were on the top line of the grid at the start of the game. They were even in the correct order. Sigh.
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 Thursday’s game if you need them.
P.S. There’s really only one way to go for today’s song recommendation. I prefer Bill Haley & The Comets’ version of “Shake, Rattle and Roll” to the ones by Big Joe Turner and Elvis. It feels like there’s an extra level of energy in this:
Have a great day! Stay hydrated! Call someone you love!
If you’re so inclined, please do follow my blog for more coverage of Connections and other word games and even some video game news, insights and analysis. It helps me out a lot! Also, follow me on Bluesky! It’s fun there.
