NYT Connections hints and answers for Thursday, May 22 (game #711)
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 Wednesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Wednesday, May 21 (game #710).
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 #711) - today's words
(Image credit: New York Times)
Today's NYT Connections words are…
ASTERISK
SHREK
BRIDGE TROLL
POOL
HULK
SPHINX
CATCH
GRINCH
RIDDLER
ELPHABA
OBELISK
STRINGS
CAPITOL
CONDITION
MAD HATTER
MALL
NYT Connections today (game #711) - hint #1 - group hints
What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?
YELLOW: One more thing…
GREEN: It’s not easy being…
BLUE: As seen in the capital
PURPLE: Presenters of puzzles
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…
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NYT Connections today (game #711) - hint #2 - group answers
What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?
YELLOW: FINE PRINT
GREEN: CHARACTERS WITH GREEN SKIN
BLUE: FEATURES OF THE NATIONAL MALL IN D.C.
PURPLE: FAMOUS RIDDLE-GIVERS
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #711) - the answers
(Image credit: New York Times)
The answers to today's Connections, game #711, are…
YELLOW: FINE PRINT ASTERISK, CATCH, CONDITION, STRINGS
GREEN: CHARACTERS WITH GREEN SKIN ELPHABA, GRINCH, HULK, SHREK
BLUE: FEATURES OF THE NATIONAL MALL IN D.C. CAPITOL, MALL, OBELISK, POOL
PURPLE: FAMOUS RIDDLE-GIVERS BRIDGE TROLL, MAD HATTER, RIDDLER, SPHINX
My rating: Hard
My score: 2 mistakes
Not my best day. I immediately thought that we had a group about CHARACTERS WITH GREEN SKIN, but only knew three for sure. Thinking that the category might extend beyond skin I added RIDDLER to GRINCH, HULK and SHREK because of his green suit.
Using the tried and trusted technique of picking something that I had never seen or heard of before, I added ELPHABA, whom I now know is a character from Wicked, which I should have known as I’ve paid good money to see the stage musical.
My second, on reflection, very dumb mistake was creating the FEATURES OF THE NATIONAL MALL IN D.C. group with the addition of SPHINX.
In my defence, Cleopatra’s Needle is a big obelisk in London, so I thought there might be some nod to ancient civilization among the US capital too. Oh well, I got there eventually.
How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.
Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Wednesday, May 21, game #710)
YELLOW: PROHIBIT, AS ENTRY BAR, BLOCK, DENY, REFUSE
GREEN: FOLDERS ON A MAC DESKTOP, MUSIC, PICTURES, TRASH
BLUE: MEDICINE FORMATS CREAM, PATCH, SPRAY, TABLET
PURPLE: THINGS THAT OPEN LIKE A CLAM CLAM, COMPACT, LAPTOP, WAFFLE IRON
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.