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!
I still really enjoy playing this game, over a year and a half after it started. It’s such a nice distraction from everything else that’s going on in the world. I love that I often learn something from it too.
Not only that, I have a lot of fun putting together this column every day, and it means the world to me that so many people mosey on by just to read how I get on with each game. I appreciate you.
Before we begin, I’ve set up a discussion group for 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.
Today’s NYT Connections hints and answers for Wednesday, February 26, 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…
- DASH
- PAST
- LATE
- COMER
- BARGE
- UNDERSCORE
- MINUS
- CHARGE
- RATE
- BAGGIE
- COST
- PRIOR
- PISA
- PRICE
- FORMER
- HYPHEN
And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:
- Yellow group — what you’ll pony up
- Green group — no longer relevant, perhaps
- Blue group — get it straight
- Purple group — “fart” and “ube” would fit in here
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 — expenditure
- Green group — onetime
- Blue group — made with horizontal lines
- Purple group — Simpson family members with first letter changed
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 — expenditure (CHARGE, COST, PRICE, RATE)
- Green group — onetime (FORMER, LATE, PAST, PRIOR)
- Blue group — made with horizontal lines (DASH, HYPHEN, MINUS, UNDERSCORE)
- Purple group — Simpson family members with first letter changed (BAGGIE, BARGE, COMER, PISA)
I broke my unwanted streak of two losses in a row with a perfect game. Nice. Here’s how I fared:
Very glad to get back to winning ways with a relatively easy game today.
DASH, BARGE and CHARGE looked like the makings of a trap to me, in part because the blues were exceedingly obvious. BAGGIE and PISA seemed like nailed-on purples, but I didn’t figure out the connection there right away.
I got the yellows next — no trouble there. With only half the grid left, the greens then became clear. But I submitted the purple group first, just because I could. I saw the connection as soon as I highlighted the four words. Of course, they refer to Maggie (BAGGIE), Marge (BARGE), Homer (COMER) and Lisa (PISA).
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’ve seen a few of these videos pop up on YouTube in which a professional musician (typically a drummer or pianist) will listen to a song they’ve never heard before with part of the instrumentation missing. I can’t get tired of watching them. The incredible Jon Batiste has featured in a couple of these now.
In a recent video, he plays a version of Chappell Roan’s “Hot To Go” after only hearing the drum and vocal tracks. He picks up the vibe and meaning of the song pretty much immediately and explains it elegantly. Batiste’s piano reinterpretation of the song is completely different and yet it totally fits with what Roan is doing.
His pure joy at everything to do with music is palpable and it’s remarkable to see his cogs turning to analyze and break down a song:
In case that’s not enough for you (it isn’t for me), here’s Batiste listening and playing along to Green Day’s “Holiday” for the first time. Same deal in terms of him only hearing the drum and vocal tracks. Batiste quickly nails the chord progression, but what he does with the song is rad:
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.
