Today’s NYT Connections puzzle has really fun blue and purple categories. Read on for hints and today’s Connections answers.

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Think of a long, hollow container.

Green group hint: Careful with that!

Blue group hint: Words for old-time leaders.

Purple group hint: You put soup in this.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Things that come in tubes.

Green group: Warnings on a shipping box.

Blue group: Historical sovereign titles.

Purple group: ____ bowl.

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is things that come in tubes.

The four answers are lipstick, poster, tennis balls and toothpaste.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is warnings on a shipping box.

The four answers are fragile, heavy, perishable and this side up.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is historical sovereign titles.

The four answers are caliph, khan, patriarch and shogun.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ____ bowl.

The four answers are dust, poke, salad and super.

CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of “Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the ’70s and ’80s,” as well as “The Totally Sweet ’90s.” She’s been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She’s Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she’ll be first in line.

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