If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Friday, August 30, 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 30, NYT Connections #446! 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 – They attract the eye.
- Green category – You probably watched athletes do these things in Paris.
- Blue category – Famous ancient structures.
- Purple category – A fill-in-the-blank, with a word describing something you use to cool down a drink.
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
CUBE and PYRAMID don’t go together.
STORM and LIGHTHOUSE don’t go together.
You’ll have an easier time with today’s blue category if you think back to history class. (Use this Wikipedia page if you’re stuck.)
BOX is a verb.
What are the categories in today’s Connections?
- Yellow: SPARKLING THINGS
- Green: PARTICIPATE IN SUMMER OLYMPIC EVENTS
- Blue: WONDERS OF THE WORLD
- Purple: ICE ___
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 SPARKLING THINGS and the words are: DIAMOND, GLITTER, GOLD, SEQUIN.
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 PARTICIPATE IN SUMMER OLYMPIC EVENTS and the words are: BOX, DIVE, FENCE, ROW.
What are the blue words in today’s Connections?
The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is WONDERS OF THE WORLD and the words are: GARDENS, LIGHTHOUSE, PYRAMID, TEMPLE.
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 ICE ___ and the words are: CREAM, CUBE, MACHINE, STORM.
How I solved today’s Connections
SEQUIN seems like a good place to start—that probably goes with other shiny, decorative elements, maybe GLITTER, DIAMOND, and GOLD? ?
LIGHTHOUSE and STORM seem related, but then I get distracted by CUBE and PYRAMID, which are both three-dimensional shapes. BOX is a little too similar to CUBE, so that probably doesn’t fit. Not seeing any other shapes on the board, so that’s probably a dead end.
TEMPLE and PYRAMID could also be related, since they’re both important cultural sites—but I’m not seeing anything else for that category.
Oh, maybe there’s an Olympics category, with BOX, DIVE, ROW, and FENCE. ?
Hmm, the last eight words are tricky. Nothing obvious jumps out at me. STORM is an X-Men character, it’s a weather phenomenon, it’s chaotic, it’s dangerous. It’s also a verb meaning to charge forward, as in “STORMing the castle.”
TEMPLE is an important religious site; it’s also the name of a university and a place on the body (the soft spots between the eyes and ears).
MACHINE refers to technology—it also reminds me of the band Florence and the MACHINE. I don’t see any other musician names on the board, though.
I’m not really getting anywhere. I think I’m going to try TEMPLE, LIGHTHOUSE, PYRAMID, and GARDENS, simply because those are all locations and I can’t think of anything else. ? WONDERS OF THE WORLD? Oh, LIGHTHOUSE refers to the Lighthouse of Alexandra; PYRAMID is the Great Pyramid of Giza; GARDENS is the Hanging Gardens of Babylon; and TEMPLE is the Temple of Artemis.
OK, that leaves CUBE, STORM, CREAM, and MACHINE—something related to sugar, milk and coffee, maybe? Let’s see. ? Oh, ICE ___. Hmm, not a fan of that category! But we got there.
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!
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