Today's Connections is a little more difficult than yesterday's, which makes it very tricky indeed. But don't panic – I've got some hints for you below.
What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Wordle hints and answers, Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
Marc is TechRadar’s Global Editor in Chief and has been obsessed with Wordle and its ilk for more than two years. He's authored dozens of articles on the game for TechRadar, including a daily today's Wordle answer column and a detailed analysis of the most common letters in Wordle in every position. He's also played every Wordle ever and only lost once and yes, he takes it all too seriously.
NYT Connections today (game #394) - today's words
Today's NYT Connections words are…
- SCRUB
- MAZE
- REGISTER
- SHOCK
- HOG
- LOG
- MOP
- CHEER
- TANGLE
- WEED
- RECORD
- FUND
- FRIEND
- MANE
- TRIMMER
- JOURNAL
NYT Connections today (game #394) - hint #1 - group hints
What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?
- Yellow: Take note of this
- Green: Needs a good barber
- Blue: Televi-ion cla--ic-
- Purple: Go after shrubbery
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 #394) - hint #2 - group answers
What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: CHRONICLE
- GREEN: MESS OF HAIR
- BLUE: TV SHOWS MINUS “S”
- PURPLE: WORDS AFTER “HEDGE”
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #394) - the answers
The answers to today's Connections, game #394, are…
- YELLOW: CHRONICLE JOURNAL, LOG, RECORD, REGISTER
- GREEN: MESS OF HAIR MANE, MOP, SHOCK, TANGLE
- BLUE: TV SHOWS MINUS “S” CHEER, FRIEND, SCRUB, WEED
- PURPLE: WORDS AFTER “HEDGE” FUND, HOG, MAZE, TRIMMER
- My rating: Moderate
- My score: Perfect
I'll state right away that I'm a BIG fan of the blue group in today's Connections. This is exactly the kind of challenge I'm looking for - it requires lateral thinking once again, plus a bit of general knowledge, and is deeply satisfying to solve. We've seen a few of these before, and hopefully will see many more.
It was also a pivotal solve for me, because I was completely stumped by the final two groups, having completed the two easier ones (yellow and green) without any issues. With hindsight, I should have spotted the 'hedge' connection in the purple group, but for some reason it escaped my mind; the term HEDGE MAZE is not really a common one, so maybe that was I didn't think to try it. Anyway, it didn't matter in the end, because after a long period looking I realized that FRIEND, SCRUB, WEED and CHEER could all have an S added to the end to make four popular TV shows and completed the puzzle.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Monday, 8 July, game #393)
- YELLOW: BIT OF ADVICE POINTER, SUGGESTION, TIP, TRICK
- GREEN: FORTITUDE GRIT, RESOLVE, SPIRIT, WILL
- BLUE: SPEND TIME AT FREQUENT, HAUNT, PATRONIZE, VISIT
- PURPLE: WORDS ENDING IN NUMBERS CANINE, FREIGHT, OFTEN, OZONE
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.