If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Friday, August 23, 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 23, NYT Connections #439! 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!
Hints for the themes in today’s Connections puzzle
Here are some spoiler-free hints for the groupings in today’s Connections:
- Yellow category – Something you might look at for information in an airport, for example.
- Green category – Sultry costuming.
- Blue category – Not quite white, but close.
- Purple category – Say these out loud. You might learn them on Duolingo.
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
BUFF can refer to musculature or polishing something, but today it refers to a color.
MONITOR and CHECK don’t go together.
A BOA and a FAWN are both animals, but they have different meanings today.
Today’s purple category requires some geographical/cultural knowledge—but it’s mostly a category about listening to the sounds of the words rather than reading them off the page.
What are the categories in today’s Connections?
- Yellow: VISUAL INTERFACE
- Green: BURLESQUE WEAR
- Blue: BEIGE SHADES
- Purple: LANGUAGE HOMOPHONES
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 VISUAL INTERFACE and the words are: DISPLAY, MONITOR, SCREEN, TERMINAL.
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 BURLESQUE WEAR and the words are: BOA, CORSET, FAN, GLOVES.
What are the blue words in today’s Connections?
The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is BEIGE SHADES and the words are: BUFF, CREAM, FAWN, TAN.
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 LANGUAGE HOMOPHONES and the words are: BASK, CHECK, FINISH, TIE.
How I solved today’s Connections
I spot BOA and CORSET right away and have a hunch there’s a “things that constrict” category. Maybe TIE, too? I’ll keep looking.
MONITOR, SCREEN, TERMINAL, and DISPLAY probably go together as words that refer to computer displays. I thought MONITOR and CHECK might go together, but this is a stronger fit. ?
I think there might be a category related to lounging in the sun—or maybe it’s things you do around bright/admirable things? BASK, TAN, FAWN? No, that doesn’t seem quite right.
CHECK and FINISH are both homophones for nationalities, right? (Czech and Finnish.) TIE could be “Thai,” and… hmm, where’s the fourth?
OK, now I think I’ve got something: TAN, CREAM, BUFF, and FAWN are all color names for a light beige-ish hue. ?
I suppose BOA, CORSET, FAN, and GLOVES could all go together as fancy items of clothing/accessories. ?Ah yes, BURLESQUE WEAR.
That leaves CHECK, FINISH, TIE, and BASK, which the puzzle says are all LANGUAGE HOMOPHONES. ? I guess I was on the right track, but what’s BASK? Oh, I guess it’s probably Basque, which I have to admit I wasn’t familiar with. (Google helped me out on that.)
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!
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.