NYT Connections hints and answers for Friday, April 25 (game #684)

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 Thursday’s puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Thursday, April 24 (game #683).

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 #684) – today’s words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today’s NYT Connections words are…

SPRINGBOARD
VACUUM
SPARK
SUMMERTIME
WINTERGREEN
WITCHCRAFT
FALLOPIAN
BUBBLEGUM
AUTUMN LEAVES
CINNAMON
LAUNCHPAD
INNER
MENTHOL
UNFORGETTABLE
TEST
CATALYST

NYT Connections today (game #684) – hint #1 – group hints

What are some clues for today’s NYT Connections groups?

YELLOW: Chewy
GREEN: A good beginning
BLUE: Classic tunes
PURPLE: Add a word that rhymes with “cube”

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 #684) – hint #2 – group answers

What are the answers for today’s NYT Connections groups?

YELLOW: GUM FLAVORS
GREEN: STARTING POINT
BLUE: GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK SONGS
PURPLE: ___ TUBE

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #684) – the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today’s Connections, game #684, are…

YELLOW: GUM FLAVORS BUBBLEGUM, CINNAMON, MENTHOL, WINTERGREEN
GREEN: STARTING POINT CATALYST, LAUNCHPAD, SPARK, SPRINGBOARD
BLUE: GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK SONGS AUTUMN LEAVES, SUMMERTIME, UNFORGETTABLE, WITCHCRAFT
PURPLE: ___ TUBE FALLOPIAN, INNER, TEST, VACUUM

My rating: Moderate
My score: Perfect

I’m kicking myself today, because I could have solved the hardest purple group early if I’d been braver. Instead, I went with all the groups I was more sure of. FALLOPIAN and TEST were the certainties, but INNER and VACUUM less so. Instead I opted for safety.

I am still delighted to be back on a winning run though, after falling to pieces last week.

Meanwhile, over in the yellow group, we had GUM FLAVORS. A few years ago, knowing that WINTERGREEN was one would have been obscure knowledge in the UK, but such has been the globalization of candy that we are all very familiar with America’s exotic gum tastes now.

How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Yesterday’s NYT Connections answers (Thursday, April 24, game #683)

YELLOW: THINGS THAT ARE WHITE BABY POWDER, MILK, POLAR BEAR, SNOW
GREEN: KINDS OF LETTUCE BUTTER, ICEBERG, LEAF, ROMAINE
BLUE: “BATMAN” VILLAINS BANE, JOKER, PENGUIN, SCARECROW
PURPLE: THEY HAVE LITERAL/ IDIOMATIC EARS CORNFIELD, MUSICIANS, PITCHERS, WALLS

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.