Looking for a different day?
A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing ‘today’s game’ while others are playing ‘yesterday’s’. If you’re looking for Sunday’s puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Sunday, April 20 (game #677).
Good morning! Let’s play Connections, the NYT’s clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.
What should you do once you’ve finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I’ve also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc’s Wordle today 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 #680) – today’s words
Today’s NYT Connections words are…
- CELL
- IRON
- TWIST
- SHEET
- SPRING
- WRENCH
- PROTEIN
- CORKSCREW
- DNA
- CURVEBALL
- COLUMN
- SODIUM
- BOMBSHELL
- ROW
- FAT
- FUSILLI
NYT Connections today (game #680) – hint #1 – group hints
What are some clues for today’s NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: Food information
- GREEN: Surprise element
- BLUE: Excel or Google
- PURPLE: Spirals
Need more clues?
We’re firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today’s NYT Connections puzzles…
NYT Connections today (game #680) – hint #2 – group answers
What are the answers for today’s NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: INFO ON A NUTRITION LABEL
- GREEN: METAPHOR FOR SOMETHING UNEXPECTED
- BLUE: THINGS YOU CAN INSERT INTO A SPREADSHEET
- PURPLE: HELICAL THINGS
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #680) – the answers
The answers to today’s Connections, game #680, are…
- YELLOW: INFO ON A NUTRITION LABEL FAT, IRON, PROTEIN, SODIUM
- GREEN: METAPHOR FOR SOMETHING UNEXPECTED BOMBSHELL, CURVEBALL, TWIST, WRENCH
- BLUE: THINGS YOU CAN INSERT INTO A SPREADSHEET CELL, COLUMN, ROW, SHEET
- PURPLE: HELICAL THINGS CORKSCREW, DNA, FUSILLI, SPRING
- My rating: Moderate
- My score: 1 mistake
My mistake today came with what would become HELICAL THINGS.
From FUSILLI, I immediately knew that we were looking for spiral shapes, but I ignored SPRING as an object and picked CURVEBALL instead, thinking of the spin of a ball thrown by a baseball pitcher spun in a spiral. I abandoned this group as the rest seemed more concrete.
I use Google Sheets nearly every day for one reason or another, so THINGS YOU CAN INSERT INTO A SPREADSHEET was an easy solve. And although INFO ON A NUTRITIONAL LABEL wasn’t what I was thinking, FAT, IRON, PROTEIN and SODIUM seemed to belong together.
Incidentally, returning to fusilli, it is a brilliant pasta shape that is often the victim of misidentification.
For years I thought I was eating fusilli, which is a hollow coiled spring shape, but I was actually eating rotini, which is corkscrew shaped pasta. It’s not my fault rotini is often sold as fusilli. It’s like John Travolta and Nicolas Cage in Face/Off – they’ve changed identities and everyone’s unsure who is who. Fortunately they both have excellent sauce-attracting grooves (the pasta, not John Travolta and Nicolas Cage’s faces).
How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.
Yesterday’s NYT Connections answers (Sunday, 20 April, game #679)
- YELLOW: GLIMPSE GANDER, GLANCE, LOOK, PEEP
- GREEN: NEEDS FOR TIE-DYEING A SHIRT BASIN, DYE, RUBBER BANDS, SHIRT
- BLUE: THINGS YOU CAN CRACK CODE, EGG, JOKE, WHIP
- PURPLE: WORDS BEFORE “HOP” BAR, BUNNY, HIP, SOCK
What is NYT Connections?
NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made 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 a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.
On the plus side, you don’t technically need to solve the final one, as you’ll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What’s more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.
It’s a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.
It’s playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
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