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 wonderful start.

A housekeeping note: you may notice something a bit different about today’s column. Instead of listing the answers in text form, I’ve included a screenshot instead. For those who use screen readers, I included the answers in the image’s alt text so you have access to them.

I’m hoping that this will help prevent the answers popping up in the summaries of search results and spoiling Connections for folks who are just looking for a little help to keep their streaks going. I’m aware that’s a problem for some people. I should have tried this months ago!

If you have any feedback about this change or anything else concerning this column, please do let me know! Discord and email are the best ways to do that. I just want to make sure this column is as useful (and fun!) as possible for you fine folks. Feedback, positive and negative, always helps.

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 5 are coming right up. Let’s get rolling!

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.

  • HINT
  • HITCH
  • POINTER
  • HICCUP
  • BEND
  • SETBACK
  • BLINK
  • SUGGESTION
  • SNEEZE
  • WHIFF
  • SHIVER
  • FLICKER
  • GAMELAN
  • SHEEPSHANK
  • MATCHSTICK
  • BOWLINE

And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:

  • 🟨 Yellow group — a little hope, perhaps
  • 🟩 Green group — like when I’m around chocolate, I just can't resist
  • 🟦 Blue group — don't overthink this or you'll get all tied up
  • 🟪 Purple group — from the outset, you'll need more than most to triumph

NYT Connections Hints – 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 — SUGGESTION
  • 🟩 Green group — BLINK
  • 🟦 Blue group — BEND
  • 🟪 Purple group — SETBACK

NYT Connections Hints – Groups/Categories

Today’s Connections groups are...

  • 🟨 Yellow group — glimmer
  • 🟩 Green group — involuntary actions
  • 🟦 Blue group — kinds of knots
  • 🟪 Purple group — starting with units in competitions

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...

Sometimes, you just get a feeling about what might be purple words with wordplay involved. In any case, I opted to play it safe by first knocking out the involuntary reactions for the greens.

POINTER was a bit of a red herring for the yellows since that lines up with HINT, but didn't quite fit with the likes of SUGGESTION and WHIFF.

I know SHEEPSHANK and BOWLINE are knots, so the blues weren't difficult for me. That left the purples, for which it was fairly straightforward to figure out the category. I knew GAMELAN would be a purple!

A regular rainbow brings my streak up to 429 wins in a row.

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 right here:

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. Given today’s blue group, I’m gonna have to recommend one of my favorite, lesser-known Queens of the Stone Age songs, “How to Handle a Rope.” It was actually a single and I saw them play it live once when they were doing a tour to commemorate an anniversary (I think the 15th?) of their brilliant debut album, on which this appears.

It’s a darn good rock and roll song. I really love that outro, which feels a bit cathartic:

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 .