NYT Connections hints and answers for Sunday, August 3 (game #784)

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 #784) - today's words

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• MIRROR
• BEETLE
• POLO
• BIRD
• GOLF
• GORILLA
• PARROT
• CRICKET
• FEVER
• ECHO
• SQUASH
• BUG
• MONKEY
• FAD
• COPY
• CRAZE

NYT Connections today (game #784) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• YELLOW: Reproduction
• BLUE: On trends
• GREEN: Bats and rackets etc
• PURPLE: Musical beasts

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 #784) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: EMULATE
• BLUE: MANIA
• GREEN: SPORTS
• PURPLE: SINGLE ANIMAL IN A CREATIVELY SPELLED BAND NAME

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

NYT Connections today (game #784) - the answers

The answers to today's Connections, game #784, are…

• YELLOW: EMULATE COPY, ECHO, MIRROR, PARROT
• BLUE: MANIA BUG, CRAZE, FAD, FEVER
• GREEN: SPORTS CRICKET, GOLF, POLO, SQUASH
• PURPLE: SINGLE ANIMAL IN A CREATIVELY SPELLED BAND NAMEBEETLE, BIRD, GORILLA, MONKEY

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• My rating: Hard
• My score: 2 mistakes

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As someone who spent 20 years as a music journalist I’m annoyed that I didn't see that SINGLE ANIMAL IN A CREATIVELY SPELLED BAND NAME referred to The Beatles, The Byrds, Gorillaz and The Monkees. 

Instead, I was too busy falling into the very obvious trap of thinking that there was a group connecting Volkswagen cars – POLO, BEETLE and GOLF are definitely models and I took a guess that ECHO was too. It isn't.

My other mistake was putting together PARROT, BUG, CRICKET and beetle, thinking it was something to do with the Pixar movie A Bug’s Life (my memory is sketchy!). 

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Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Saturday, August 2, game #783)

• YELLOW: ATTACH WITH ADHESIVE ADHERE, AFFIX, GLUE, STICK
• BLUE: BOWLING RESULTS FOUL, SPARE, SPLIT, STRIKE
• GREEN: POLITE TERMS FOR SEX COMMERCE, CONGRESS, INTIMACY, RELATIONS
• PURPLE: CONTRONYMS (WORDS THAT CAN MEAN OPPOSITE THINGS) CLEAVE, GARNISH, OVERSIGHT, SANCTION

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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.