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 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 Connections puzzle is all about the beginning and the ending of its clues, and many of them are names or two-word phrases. The yellow group is kind of funny, to boot. 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: Bathroom break.

Green group hint: Sing out.

Blue group hint: Looking at the art.

Purple group hint: Legendary beings.

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

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Starting with terms for “toilet.”

Green group: Ending in musicals.

Blue group: Starting with US museums.

Purple group: Ending in fantasy creatures.

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is starting with terms for “toilet.”

The four answers are can opener, head waiter, John Denver and W.C. Fields.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is ending in musicals.

The four answers are elbow grease, fat cats, Linda Hamilton and something wicked.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is starting with US museums.

The four answers are broad bean, Getty Images, met halfway and Whitney Houston.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ending in fantasy creatures.

The four answers are diet Sprite, Merv Griffin, NY Giant and River Phoenix.

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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