Today's NYT Connections Hints (and Answer) for Friday, August 2, 2024
If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Friday, August 2, 2024, read on—I’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solutions to all four categories. Along the way, I’ll explain the meanings of the trickier words and we’ll learn how everything fits together. Beware, there are spoilers below for August 2, NYT Connections #418! Read on if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Connections game.
If you want an easy way to come back to our Connections hints every day, bookmark this page. You can also find our past hints there as well, in case you want to know what you missed in a previous puzzle.
Below, I’ll give you some oblique hints at today’s Connections answers. And farther down the page, I’ll reveal the themes and the answers. Scroll slowly and take just the hints you need!
Credit: Connections/NYT
Hints for the themes in today’s Connections puzzle
Here are some spoiler-free hints for the groupings in today’s Connections:
- Yellow category - Resources that are thinly spread or overextended.
- Green category - Actions at a turntable.
- Blue category - Words you might read when studying another language.
- Purple category - These words can all be described with the same color.
BEWARE: Spoilers follow for today’s Connections puzzle!
We’re about to give away some of the answers. Scroll slowly if you don’t want the whole thing spoiled. (The full solution is a bit further down.)
A heads up about the tricky parts
I found today’s puzzle to be pretty hard.
SAMPLE and TEST don’t go together. Instead, SAMPLE refers to when you hear a melody or vocal riff from one song pop up in another.
POSSESSIVE and JEALOUS don’t go together.
IRREGULAR and NAUSEOUS don’t go together.
What are the categories in today’s Connections?
- Yellow: STRETCH, AS ONE’S PATIENCE
- Green: THINGS A DJ DOES
- Blue: ADJECTIVES USED IN GRAMMAR
- Purple: WHAT “GREEN” MIGHT MEAN
DOUBLE BEWARE: THE SOLUTION IS BELOW
Ready to learn the answers to today’s Connections puzzle? I give them all away below.
What are the yellow words in today’s Connections?
The yellow grouping is considered to be the most straightforward. The theme for today’s yellow group is STRETCH, AS ONE’S PATIENCE and the words are: STRAIN, TAX, TEST, TRY.
What are the green words in today’s Connections?
The green grouping is supposed to be the second-easiest. The theme for today’s green category is THINGS A DJ DOES and the words are: MIX, SAMPLE, SCRATCH, SPIN.
What are the blue words in today’s Connections?
The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is ADJECTIVES USED IN GRAMMAR and the words are: DIRECT, IRREGULAR, POSSESSIVE, PRESENT.
What are the purple words in today’s Connections?
The purple grouping is considered to be the hardest. The theme for today’s purple category is WHAT “GREEN” MIGHT MEAN and the words are: ECOLOGICAL, JEALOUS, LUSH, NAUSEOUS.
How I solved today’s Connections
Hmm, interesting words on the board today, without a lot of super obvious synonyms that I can see at first glance.
SAMPLE, TRY, and TEST are all pretty similar words for consuming a small quantity of something. TAX and SPIN (as in, “take it for a spin”) could both potentially complete the category. I’ll keep looking.
POSSESSIVE and IRREGULAR are both words that could describe grammar—like “possessive noun” and “irregular verb.” Maybe that goes with DIRECT and PRESENT (as in, “present tense”)? 🟦
MIX, SPIN, and STRAIN also seem like they could go together as steps in cooking something, but I’m not sure what. A salad?
I thought there could also be a WORDS, WITH S AT THE BEGINNING category, with SPIN, STRAIN, SAMPLE, and SCRATCH—but “cratch” is not a word, as far as I know.
Oh, I see now: SPIN, SCRATCH, SAMPLE, and MIX are all words related to music production/DJing. 🟩
I think TEST, TRY, STRAIN, and TAX go together now as words referring to exhausting or pushing the limits of something. 🟨
That leaves ECOLOGICAL, LUSH, JEALOUS, and NAUSEOUS. Hmm. Oh, those are all words associated with the color green! If something is marketed as “green,” it means it is (ostensibly) eco-friendly; a LUSH or verdant landscape would be green; someone who is JEALOUS might be “green with envy;” and someone who is NAUSEOUS might be described as “turning green.” 🟪
How to play Connections
I have a full guide to playing Connections, but here’s a refresher on the rules:
First, find the Connections game either on the New York Times website or in their Games app (formerly the Crossword app). You’ll see a game board with 16 tiles, each with one word or phrase. Your job is to select a group of four tiles that have something in common. Often they are all the same type of thing (for example: RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, and SNOW are all types of wet weather) but sometimes there is wordplay involved (for example, BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH are all types of lists: bucket list, guest list, and so on).
Select four items and hit the Submit button. If you guessed correctly, the category and color will be revealed. (Yellow is easiest, followed by green, then blue, then purple.) If your guess was incorrect, you’ll get a chance to try again.
You win when you’ve correctly identified all four groups. But if you make four mistakes before you finish, the game ends and the answers are revealed.
How to win Connections
The most important thing to know to win Connections is that the groupings are designed to be tricky. Expect to see overlapping groups. For example, one puzzle seemed to include six breakfast foods: BACON, EGG, PANCAKE, OMELET, WAFFLE, and CEREAL. But BACON turned out to be part of a group of painters along with CLOSE, MUNCH, and WHISTLER, and EGG was in a group of things that come by the dozen (along with JUROR, ROSE, and MONTH). So don’t hit “submit” until you’ve confirmed that your group of four contains only those four things.
If you’re stuck, another strategy is to look at the words that seem to have no connection to the others. If all that comes to mind when you see WHISTLER is the painting nicknamed “Whistler’s Mother,” you might be on to something. When I solved that one, I ended up googling whether there was a painter named Close, because Close didn’t fit any of the obvious themes, either.
Another way to win when you’re stuck is, obviously, to read a few helpful hints–which is why we share these pointers every day. Check back tomorrow for the next puzzle!
If you're interested in entertainment beyond just solving the New York Times Connections puzzle, you might find connections in the music world. For example, the words 'SAMPLE', 'MIX', 'SCRATCH', and 'SPIN' are all related to music production and DJing, making a connection to the entertainment industry.
After solving the Connections puzzle, you can bookmark this page for future references or revisit our past hints if you missed any previous Connections puzzles.
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