Another day, another Connections puzzle standing between you and your streak. Today’s board (puzzle #1165) mixes a sneaky wordplay group with a straightforward sports category, so a wrong guess or two is easy to make if you rush in.
Here are the hints first. Scroll further down when you’re ready for the full answers.
Today’s Connections Hints
Each Connections puzzle has four groups sorted by difficulty: yellow (easiest), green, blue, and purple (hardest). Here’s a nudge for each one today.
- Yellow: These words all describe something that takes zero effort.
- Green: Think of ways to keep something out of sight.
- Blue: Add the same word after each of these to get a sport.
- Purple: Say these out loud. They sound like animated movies.
If you’re still stuck, the trickiest part of today’s puzzle is that one word looks like it belongs in a picnic-themed group, but it actually fits somewhere else entirely. Don’t let it fool you.
Today’s Connections Answers
Here’s the full solution for August 19.
Yellow: Ways to Say “Easy”
BREEZE, CINCH, PICNIC, SNAP
Green: Ways to Conceal Something
BLANKET, HIDE, MASK, OBSCURE
Blue: _ + Ball (Sports)
BASE, BASKET, FOOT, PICKLE
Purple: Sound Like Animated Movies
ANTS (Antz), COCOA (Coco), RHEO (Rio), SEOUL (Soul)
The purple group is where most players lose a guess today. PICNIC looks like it should sit with BASKET and BLANKET since all three sound picnic-related, but PICNIC actually belongs in the yellow “easy” group and BASKET belongs in the blue sports group. That overlap is exactly the kind of trap Connections editor Wyna Liu likes to set.
How Connections Works
If you’re new to the game, Connections gives you a 4×4 grid of 16 words. Your job is to sort them into four hidden groups of four. Each group shares a theme, and the categories get harder as you move from yellow to purple. You get four mistakes before the puzzle locks you out, so it pays to start with the group you’re most confident about.
You can play today’s puzzle for free on the NYT Games site.
Final Thoughts
Today’s puzzle rewards players who read each word twice before locking in a guess. The picnic-themed decoys (PICNIC, BASKET, BLANKET, ANTS) are split across three different categories, so resist the urge to group them together just because they feel connected.
Check back tomorrow for the next set of NYT Connections hints and answers, and follow GamerUrge for more daily puzzle guides and gaming news.
