Looking for the most recent NYT Connections puzzle answers? CNET publishes daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

In Connections, you look at a grid of 16 words and pick four words that have a connection to each other. You do this four times until all 16 words in the puzzle are grouped. The tough part is that Times associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu chooses words that could fit in multiple groups. The obvious guess — hey! Those are four animals! — is almost always going to be wrong. I’ve compiled my favorite tips for Connections if you need a boost.

The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle has a real stumper of a purple category, where a random letter has been added to four related words. I about tore my hair out trying to solve this one. 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: Ooh-la-la!

Green group hint: Does anybody really know what time it is?

Blue group hint: Haggerty played Grizzly Adams.

Purple group hint: Words you learned in science class, with one letter added to each.

Read more: We Need to Talk About That Doggone Connections Puzzle

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Luxe.

Green group: Parts of a mechanical clock.

Blue group: Famous Dans.

Purple group: Taxonomic ranks, plus a letter.

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is luxe.

The four answers are bougie, fancy, posh and swank.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is parts of a mechanical clock.

The four answers are escapement, pendulum, ratchet and spring.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is famous Dans.

The four answers are Aykroyd, Levy, Rather and Savage.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is taxonomic ranks plus a letter.

The four answers are border (order), classy (class), foamily (family) and genius (genus).

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.

See full bio