Find the links between the words to win today’s game of Connections.
Looking for Saturday’s Connections hints and answers instead? You can find them here:
Hey, folks! I hope you’re having a lovely weekend.
My partner and I recently had a date day, starting at a board game bar, where I was delighted to introduce her to the wonderful Takenoko. Afterwards, we decided to go to the casino for a while for drinks, dinner and a little gambling. We had to wait a bit for a table at the restaurant, so in the meantime, it was off to the roulette machine.
Long story short, I played for about eight minutes and dropped to $17 in credit before quickly rising up to over $250 in profit. I decided that being $150 in the green was my limit, so once I dropped back down to that level, I cashed out. My winnings paid for dinner and the cab ride home, so I can’t complain!
I can’t encourage anyone to gamble, but it can be very fun as long as you have a set limit on what you’re willing to spend/lose. I think it’s also helpful to have a target in mind so that you’re ready to walk away when you reach it.
Kenny Rogers had it absolutely spot on: “You’ve got to know when to hold ’em / Know when to fold ’em / Know when to walk away / Know when to run.”
Before we begin, I’ve set up a discussion group for Connections and this column on Discord. We have a great little community over there and we chat about more than NYT games. Everyone who has joined has been lovely. It’s a fun hangout spot.
It’s also the best way to give me any feedback about the column, especially on the rare(!) occasions that I mess something up.
Today’s NYT Connections hints and answers for Sunday, March 2, are coming right up.
How To Play Connections
Connections is a free, popular New York Times daily word game. You get a new puzzle at midnight every day. You can play on the NYT website or Games app.
You’re presented with a grid of 16 words. Your task is to arrange them into four groups of four by figuring out the links between them. The groups could be things like items you can click, names for research study participants or words preceded by a body part.
There’s only one solution for each puzzle, and you’ll need to be careful when it comes to words that might fit into more than one category. You can shuffle the words to perhaps help you see links between them.
Each group is color coded. The yellow group is usually the easiest to figure out, blue and green fall in the middle, and the purple group is usually the most difficult one. The purple group often involves wordplay.
Select four words you think go together and press Submit. If you make a guess and you’re incorrect, you’ll lose a life. If you’re close to having a correct group, you might see a message telling you that you’re one word away from getting it right, but you’ll still need to figure out which one to swap.
If you make four mistakes, it’s game over. Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen with the help of some hints, and, if you’re really struggling, today’s Connections answers. As with Wordle and other similar games, it’s easy to share results with your friends on social media and group chats.
If you have an NYT All Access or Games subscription, you can access the publication’s Connections archive. This includes every previous game of Connections, so you can go back and play any of those that you have missed.
Aside from the first 60 games or so, you should be able to find my hints for each grid via Google if you need them! Just click here and add the date of the game for which you need clues or the answers to the search query.
What Are Today’s Connections Hints?
Scroll slowly! Just after the hints for each of today’s Connections groups, I’ll reveal what the groups are without immediately telling you which words go into them.
Today’s 16 words are…
- WIN
- SHOE
- SHAKE
- WEST
- VIBRATE
- LOSE
- HAM
- DRAW
- HEART
- AIRPLANE
- TUNGSTEN
- DODGE
- DO NOT DISTURB
- WATT
- ESCAPE
- RING
And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:
- Yellow group — iPhone and Android settings
- Green group — give someone the slip
- Blue group — various possible meanings for a single symbol
- Purple group — like “pull” or “silly”
What Are Today’s Connections Groups?
Need some extra help?
Be warned: we’re starting to get into spoiler territory.
Today’s Connections groups are…
- Yellow group — cellphone modes
- Green group — evade
- Blue group — what “w” might stand for
- Purple group — _____string
What Are Today’s Connections Answers?
Spoiler alert! Don’t scroll any further down the page until you’re ready to find out today’s Connections answers.
This is your final warning!
Today’s Connections answers are…
- Yellow group — cellphone modes (AIRPLANE, DO NOT DISTURB, RING, VIBRATE)
- Green group — evade (DODGE, ESCAPE, LOSE, SHAKE)
- Blue group — what “w” might stand for (TUNGSTEN, WATT, WEST, WIN)
- Purple group — _____string (DRAW, HAM, HEART, SHOE)
Alas, no perfect game, but my streak rolls on for a fifth day. Here’s how I fared:
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟦🟪🟪🟪
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟦🟦🟦🟦
The yellows were immediately clear after I saw NO NOT DISTURB, but I had to get my thinking cap on after that. Nothing was quite coming together except for WIN, LOSE and DRAW, though I didn’t see what would go with those.
Hitting the shuffle button put SHAKE and ESCAPE next to each other, which helped me get the greens.
A few more shuffles didn’t really help, so I tried a random guess of the words on the left — DRAW, HAM, SHOE and WIN — to get some information. That put me one away from a group. Hmmmm…
After a few moments of thought, the purples clicked. That left the blues for my fifth straight win.
The only thing I really know TUNGSTEN from is that darts are made with it. I know very little about the periodic table!
That’s all there is to it for today’s Connections clues and answers. Be sure to check my blog tomorrow for hints and the solution for Monday’s game if you need them.
P.S. For many reasons, Foo Fighters are one of my favorite bands of all time. While I love much of their work, not every song of theirs has been great (the less said about “Wheels,” the better).
On the other hand, some of their best songs don’t even make it on to their albums. Foo Fighters have some real gems among their B-sides, including a catchy number I love called “Fraternity.” It was a bonus track on some versions of There Is Nothing Left to Lose, but it appeared on a single as well. If you like an artist, it’s always worth going beyond the albums and singles. You might find your new favorite song lurking below the surface:
Have a great day! Stay hydrated! Call someone you love!
If you’re so inclined, please follow my blog for more coverage of Connections and other word games and even some video game news, insights and analysis. It helps me out a lot! Also, follow me on Bluesky! It’s fun there.
