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 Monday:

Hey there, Connectors! I hope your week is off to a great start.

A show to which I had been looking forward for months finally took place last week. But even then I had to wait a bit longer than expected to take in said concert. It was shunted back by a day after the Montreal Victoire reached the Walter Cup Finals in the Professional Women’s Hockey League. Hockey had priority for the arena that night (because Canada), so the show got bumped with just two days’ warning.

That wasn’t a huge problem for me since I live in the area and the venue is super easy to get to via public transport (I would have dropped any other plans I had for show night). A lot of folks complained online about the switch, and with good reason. Some drove 10-plus hours for the event. Others were flying in from across the country and had to return on the day that the show was moved to. Factors like hotels, time off work and childcare were issues too.

I don’t really understand why the concert wasn’t scheduled for the date it was postponed to in the first place. That would have saved a bunch of people a lot of trouble, especially for those who were suddenly unable to make it to a fantastic show.

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 Tuesday, May 19 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.

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.

  • FOREVER
  • SALON
  • COOK
  • SURGEON
  • NURSE
  • DOCTOR
  • FUDGE
  • SUPERFUDGE
  • CRY
  • BLUBBER
  • TROT
  • ALTER
  • FOUNDER
  • BABBLE
  • DEENIE
  • TEETHE

Today’s NYT Connections Hints

And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:

  • 🟨 Yellow group — first steps
  • 🟩 Green group — hide accounting discrepancies, perhaps
  • 🟦 Blue group — like freckle juice and tiger eyes
  • 🟪 Purple group — without any eyes, it's just a fsh

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 — NURSE
  • 🟩 Green group — FUDGE
  • 🟦 Blue group — FOREVER
  • 🟪 Purple group — SALON

Today’s NYT Connections Categories

Today’s Connections groups are...

  • 🟨 Yellow group — things babies do
  • 🟩 Green group — modify deceptively
  • 🟦 Blue group — Judy Blume books
  • 🟪 Purple group — fish minus a letter

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...

I figured DOCTOR, NURSE and SURGEON made for a red herring pretty much right away and I misread FOUNDER as "flounder" at first. So, I was on the hunt for fish that were missing a letter. It didn't take me too long to figure out the purples. (A relatively easy hint for that group, but I couldn't resist!)

NURSE and TEETHE are things that babies do, and those led me into the yellows, narrowly avoiding the BLUBBER red herring there.

I spotted what had to be the greens at that point. I vaguely remembered that SUPERFUDGE was the name of a book, so I just about got the blue category figured out, even if I couldn't recall the author's name.

That’s a perfect game in the books for your old pal, Kris. And that's my 443rd win in a row. One week until 450!

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

I am wiped and three of the groups are more or less covered by the category titles, so I’m skipping my separate NYT Connections Answers Explained column today. Sorry! The purples refer to flounder, salmon, sturgeon and trout.

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 Wednesday’s game if you need them.

P.S. I watch quite a lot of professionally filmed (or pro shot) concert videos on YouTube. I really like The Wombats, an indie rock trio who’ve released a bunch of immensely catchy songs. Their set at the 2022 edition of the Kendal Calling festival is one that I often come back to. They’re such a tight, fun band and the audience here is fantastic. I love the energy of it so much.

The crowd is super into the show right from the outset, and they belt out the likes of “Moving To New York” (my favorite Wombats song) and “Kill The Director.” Things reach fever pitch with what’s probably the band’s best-known track, “Let’s Dance to Joy Division.” This never fails to put me in a better mood:

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 .