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 Sunday:

Hey there, Connectors! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. I’m very happy to be back with you for another weekday run of this here column.

You may know by now that I love to start the Monday editions with a fun, upbeat song. I would just love for you to start the week in a positive mood, and such a tune can help with that. If it gets you to sing and dance a bit, even better. Get that dopamine flowing, gang!

I think “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” by The Beach Boys fits the bill. It’s not quote as poppy as some of the band’s other songs, but I find it charmingly hopeful. C’mon, it’s The Beach Boys!

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 Monday, May 11 are coming right up. Let’s get rolling!

NYT Connections – How To Play

Connections is a free New York Times daily word game that you can play on the NYT ’s website or Games app. If you have an NYT All Access or Games subscription, you can access the Connections archive, which includes every previous game.

Connections presents you with a grid of 16 words (sometimes phrases, symbols or numbers). The aim is to arrange them into four groups of four. You don’t know how they hit together or what the category for each group is: that’s what you have to figure out.

There’s only one correct solution and there are often red herrings. You can guess incorrectly three times. A fourth wrong guess, and it’s game over.

Each group is color coded. The yellow group is usually the easiest to deduce, followed by blue, green and purple. Often, the yellow and green groups have synonyms, the blues have cultural references and the purples have some kind of wordplay involved. But this is not a hard and fast rule. Be ready for curveballs – part of the fun of Connections is in how the NYT shakes things up to keep you on your toes.

As with Wordle and similar games, it’s easy to share results with your friends using an emoji-based grid. The game tracks your progress too.

Many players take pride in having long win streaks or getting a reverse rainbow – correctly guessing the purple, blue, green and yellow groups in that order with no mistakes. That adds an extra little challenge.

NYT Connections Hints – Today’s 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.

  • COLOR
  • CREEP
  • SHANDY
  • KARMA
  • KNIVES OUT
  • SLIP
  • PYRAMID
  • RHYME
  • STEAL
  • CHINATOWN
  • KEYED
  • SNEAK
  • SEVEN
  • PONZI
  • ELEGY
  • VERTIGO

And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:

  • 🟨 Yellow group — proceed quietly
  • 🟩 Green group — plots, in a manner of speaking
  • 🟦 Blue group — it's all a big mystery
  • 🟪 Purple group — keeping important parts cozy

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 — STEAL
  • 🟩 Green group — RHYME
  • 🟦 Blue group — VERTIGO
  • 🟪 Purple group — SHANDY

NYT Connections Categories

Today’s Connections groups are...

  • 🟨 Yellow group — move stealthily, with “in”
  • 🟩 Green group — kinds of schemes
  • 🟦 Blue group — detective movies
  • 🟪 Purple group — body parts surrounded by two letters

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...

I zipped through things today. I clocked the detective movies right away (I’ve seen all of them except VERTIGO and the other three are great), but I figured that the "_____ schemes" might be the purples, so I tried those first. Alas, they were the greens and my half-hearted bid at a reverse rainbow was for naught.

I knocked out the blues, then what I suspected had to be the yellows became clear. So I submitted what I figured were the purples first, even though I didn't know what the category would be (I'm tired, gang).

Anyway, that's another perfect game and a 435th win in a row for me.

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’s all there is to it for today’s Connections clues and answers. Be sure to check my blog tomorrow for hints and the solution for Tuesday’s game if you need them.

P.S. Kid Sistr are an indie rock trio who are about to release a new EP in a couple of weeks, and I’m very thankful to the YouTube algorithm for bringing them to my attention. "Maniac" offers up some delicious mid-tempo ‘90s alt-rock tones. It reminds me a bit of Boygenius. It's catchy too:

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. You can also read my weekend editions of this column at my newsletter, Pastimes .