Each day’s game of NYT Connections goes live at midnight local time. Before today’s NYT Connections hints, here’s what you missed on Thursday:

Hey there, Connectors! The weekend is almost upon us. Let’s make sure your Connections streak remains in one piece as we roll into Saturday.

I’m not a huge hockey guy, but the playoffs are so much fun. I’ve watched every game of my adopted hometown team’s run so far and had a lot of fun cheering on the Montreal Canadiens. I’m very much hoping they win the Stanley Cup. It would mean so much to so many people in this incredible city.

At the same time, I feel bad that I haven’t been watching our Professional Women’s Hockey League team, the Montreal Victoire, through their playoffs run. I was delighted to hear that they reached the Walter Cup Finals for the first time. Really hoping I can catch some of those games.

Maybe even in person, because tickets for the Walter Cup Finals are actually reasonably priced. The cheapest ticket I’ve seen for the Habs’ playoff run is around $700 CAD!

Before we start, I want to highlight the rad community we have on Discord , where we chat about Connections , the rest of the NYT games and all kinds of other stuff. It’s a lovely group of folks. You’re more than welcome to join us.

Also, my weekend editions of this column are available over on my newsletter, Pastimes . If you enjoy the intros and recommendations in my Connections columns, I publish longer pieces along similar lines on Pastimes as well. I think you’d dig them.

Today’s NYT Connections hints and answers for Friday, May 15 are coming right up. Let’s get rolling!

Today’s NYT Connections Word List

Scroll slowly! I’ll first give you a list of today’s words, then a hint for each category. After that, I’ll reveal one word that goes into each group. Then I’ll tell you the category names, followed by the full answers.

  • SAW
  • JORDAN
  • CROSS
  • PITT
  • ELBA
  • PALM
  • CIAO
  • FORD
  • WADE
  • BIRD
  • WAS
  • CURRY
  • JAMES
  • PEEK
  • ABLE
  • TRAVERSE

Today’s NYT Connections Hints

And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:

  • 🟨 Yellow group — you can't walk on top of it, so thankfully there are other methods
  • 🟩 Green group — best with a ball on several occasions
  • 🟦 Blue group — no matter which way you look at it, evidence suggests Napoleon did not utter this phrase
  • 🟪 Purple group — these sure do sound like the kinds of things we'd call our "best friends"

NYT Connections – One Answer Per Group

Be warned: we’re starting to get into spoiler territory.

Let’s take a look at one answer for each group.

  • 🟨 Yellow group — FORD
  • 🟩 Green group — JAMES
  • 🟦 Blue group — SAW
  • 🟪 Purple group — PALM

Today’s NYT Connections Categories

Today’s Connections groups are...

  • 🟨 Yellow group — navigate through, as a river
  • 🟩 Green group — multi-time NBA MVPs
  • 🟦 Blue group — non-palindromic words in a famous palindrome
  • 🟪 Purple group — homophones of kinds of dogs, familiarly

Today’s NYT 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 last chance to look away.

This is your final warning!

Today’s Connections answers are...

This was a bit of a chin scratcher from the outset as there were surnames of both NBA players (JORDAN, WADE, BIRD, CURRY, JAMES... maybe I’m missing one?) and actors (PITT, ELBA, FORD, CURRY, JORDAN, JAMES). Given that there were at least five possible NBA players, I left those alone at the start.

TRAVERSE and CROSS helped me realize there might be a group of words that meant to bypass a gap. But WADE helped me understand that it could be specifically related to river crossings. I vaguely remembered that FORD has something to do with that, so I took a chance and got the yellows.

With WADE out of the way, I was able to get the greens. That category was a little more specific than I expected.

From there, I realized that ELBA was an anagram of ABLE, as SAW was for WAS. I had no idea they related to a particular palindrome! Still, I got the blues.

That left the purples. The category didn't click for me, but it probably should have given that we had a similar group very recently!

A regular rainbow on a tricky game extends my streak to 439 wins. Oh hey, 450 isn't too far away. Hope I didn't just jinx that!

How did you get on today? Here's my grid:

Want to know more about how everything fits together? Let’s explore today’s game in more depth in my NYT Connections Answers Explained column. You can check that out by visiting my author page .

That brings my current run of NYT Connections coverage to a close. I’ll be back with you here for more on Monday. In the meantime, you can read my weekend editions of this column at my newsletter , Pastimes .

P.S. I’ve recommended the studio recording of this song before, but the live version’s darn good too. Games We Play recorded this version of “Is This What I’m Made Of” at Studio 606, which is Foo Fighters’ home studio. It’s a self-critical song, but there are glimmers of optimism here too. Plus, it’s catchy:

Have a great day! Stay hydrated! Be kind to yourself and each other! Call someone you love!

Please follow my blog for more NYT Connections hints and help with other word games, and even some video game news, insights and analysis. It helps me out a lot! Sharing this column with other people who play Connections would be appreciated too.