Want a different day?
A new NYT Connections puzzle appears every day at midnight for your time zone – which means some people are still playing “today’s game” while others are playing “yesterday’s.” If you are looking for the Sunday puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections Tips and Answers for Sunday, February 15 (Game #980).
Good morning! Let’s play Connections, the clever word game from the New York Times that challenges you to group answers into different categories. This can be difficult, so read on if you need tips on connections.
SPOILER WARNING: The information on NYT Connections today is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.
NYT Connections today (game #981) – words of the day
Today’s NYT Connections words are…
- MALE
- SHOUT
- DO
- LAUGH
- FAWN
- DOE
- FLIGHT
- CRY
- HOOT
- STRUGGLE
- RIOT
- DOUGH
- FREEZE
- CAckle
- DOH
- CHUCKLE
NYT Connections today (game #981) – clue #1 – group clues
What are the clues for today’s NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: Very funny
- GREEN: Everyone sounds the same
- BLUE: Poultry noises
- PURPLE: Strong reactions
Need more clues?
We’re firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four themed answers are for today’s NYT Connections riddles…
NYT Connections today (game #981) – clue #2 – group answers
What are the answers for today’s NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: KNEE SLAPPER
- GREEN: HOMOPHONES
- BLUE: THE SOUNDS OF A CHICKEN MADE
- PURPLE: RESPONSES TO STRESS
That’s right, the answers are below, so DON’T SCROLL FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #981) – the answers
The answers to today’s Connections game #981 are…
- YELLOW: KNEE SLAPPER HOO, LAUGH, RIO, SCREAM
- GREEN: HOMOPHONES MAKE, DOE, DOH, DOUGH
- BLUE: THE SOUNDS OF A CHICKEN MADE BUCK, snicker, CLUCK, SQUAWK
- PURPLE: RESPONSES TO STRESS FAWN, FIGHT, FLIGHT, FREEZE
- My rating: Hard
- My rating: 3 errors
Despite the small pleasure of getting the answers in perfect order of difficulty, I found this game really boring.
Maybe I shouldn’t have started by singing “Doe a Deer, a Female Deer” and thus tricked myself into making up a group of words that, in my ignorance, I thought were about animals – DOE, FAWN, BUCK and HOOT (that’ll be what you call a baby owl, right?).
I redirected and made another mistake before I got KNEE SLAPPER, because I had CACKLE instead of RIOT (I thought they were all exclamations).
My bad run didn’t end there, as I had FAWN instead of BUCK in the group that became SOUNDS A CHICKEN MAKES. Honestly, a chicken would have done a better job than me in today’s match.
Answers from yesterday’s NYT Connections (Sunday, February 15, match #980)
- YELLOW: REFERENCE WORKS ATLAS, DICTIONARY, ENCYCLOPEDIA, THESAURUS
- GREEN: SOMETHING THAT BRINGS BACK MEMORIES ECHO, REMINDER, TRACE, VESTIGE
- BLUE: TYPES OF COMPLEXES ELECTRA, INFERIORITY, OEDIPUS, SUPERIORITY
- PURPLE: START WITH WAYS TO REACH SOMEONE BY PHONE NOZZLE, CALLIOPE, DIALECT, RINGMASTER
What is NYT Connections?
NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games created by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four elements that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow is a little more difficult, blue is often quite difficult, and purple is usually very difficult.
On the plus side, you technically don’t need to solve the final question, as you will be able to answer it through a process of elimination. Additionally, you can make up to four mistakes, giving you some breathing room.
However, it’s a bit more complex than something like Wordle, and the game provides plenty of opportunities to trip you up with tricks. For example, watch out for homophones and other puns that could obscure the answers.
It is playable for free via the NYT Games website on computer or mobile.
