Find the links between the words to win today’s game of Connections.
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Looking for Tuesday’s NYT 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!
In a recent intro, I wrote about how much I enjoy hitting a button on my browser’s bookmark bar that takes me to a random page on Wikipedia. It’s a delightful thing that’s helped me discover all kinds of wild and weird stuff.
Since then, I’ve found out about a site called WikiTok, which does much the same thing with a more TikTok-like, visually focused interface that may be easier to navigate. Just wanted to mention that for those who were interested in the bookmark.
Before we begin, I’ve set up a discussion group for NYT Connections and this column on Discord. We have a great little community over there and we chat about more than NYT games. Everyone who has joined has been lovely. It’s a fun hangout spot.
It’s also the best way to give me any feedback about the column, especially on the rare(!) occasions that I mess something up since I don’t look at the comments or Twitter much.
Today’s NYT Connections hints and answers for Wednesday, March 19, 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 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…
- MEAN
- KING
- EXPRESS
- SHOULDER
- BACK
- MEDIAN
- CARTE
- SPELL
- DIVIDER
- EXTENSIONS
- MODE
- REFRESH
- PLANCHA
- LANE
- FORWARD
- CONVEY
And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:
- Yellow group — get a point across
- Green group — you might see these on your screen right now
- Blue group — it doesn’t take a cat’s eye to spot these
- Purple group — in the style of…
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 — signify
- Green group — web browser buttons
- Blue group — parts of a road
- Purple group — à/a la
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 — signify (CONVEY, EXPRESS, MEAN, SPELL)
- Green group — web browser buttons (BACK, EXTENSIONS, FORWARD, REFRESH)
- Blue group — parts of a road (DIVIDER, LANE, MEDIAN, SHOULDER)
- Purple group — à/a la (CARTE, KING, MODE, PLANCHA)
Who cares about getting a perfect game when your streak sits at 22 wins? Here’s how I fared:
My initial thought was that MEAN, MEDIAN and MODE seemed too obvious and could be a red herring. I was also taken aback by PLANCHA, because I’ve rarely heard that outside of pro wrestling (I watch perhaps too much of that). But I vaguely remembered it’s similar to a grill.
Anyway, I went with a guess of MEDIAN, DIVIDER, LANE and EXPRESS, which put me one away from a group. I immediately realized SHOULDER should be in there instead of EXPRESS, and I had the blues.
I scratched my chin for a few moments, wondering where to go next. My eyes were drawn to CONVEY and EXPRESS, which gave me the yellows.
A few minutes more thought later, EXTENSIONS finally clicked and I had the greens. I didn’t figure out the purple connection. The whole time, I was thinking of CARTE blanche instead of the other thing. I’ve never heard of KING or PLANCHA in that context. Still, a win is a win!
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. I mentioned yesterday that I got a free Rammstein album from a Coca-Cola promotion way back when. Another record I got for nothing (save for the cost of 100 cans of soda enjoyed by my extended family and friends) was I Get Wet by Andrew WK.
It’s a ridiculously fun blast of pop metal that never outstays its welcome. The first two singles, “Party Hard” and “She Is Beautiful,” are never too far from the forefront of my memory. I came up with a silly dance to the first of those once. Buy me a few drinks and ask me nicely, and I might show you someday:
Have a great day! Stay hydrated! Call someone you love!
If you’re so inclined, please follow my blog for more coverage of NYT Connections and 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 Also, follow me on Bluesky! It’s fun there.
