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 Tuesday:

It’s Wednesday, and you know what that means: it’s time for another round of Connections !

It’s always nice to have something to look forward to. A vacation, a big get together, a fun event. But it’s important not to overdo it. Balance in all things.

That’s what I had to tell myself the other day when four shows I’m interested in going to were all announced at once. Oh dear. I probably shouldn’t be buying tickets for all four concerts right now. I haven’t even checked to see if they clash with anything else I have coming up. And yet, the temptation is there…

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 Wednesday, May 20 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.

  • HIGH
  • KEY
  • INTENSITY
  • INDEPENDENCE
  • MIGHT
  • MODE
  • MEDIUM
  • INTERVAL
  • TRAINING
  • OFF
  • FORCE
  • SIMMER
  • CONCENTRATION
  • GROUNDHOG
  • THE LONGEST
  • SCALE

Today’s NYT Connections Hints

And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:

  • 🟨 Yellow group — turn up the heat
  • 🟩 Green group — pack a punch
  • 🟦 Blue group — keep everything in harmony
  • 🟪 Purple group — as many segments as frames per second, perhaps

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 — MEDIUM
  • 🟩 Green group — INTENSITY
  • 🟦 Blue group — KEY
  • 🟪 Purple group — INDEPENDENCE

Today’s NYT Connections Categories

Today’s Connections groups are...

  • 🟨 Yellow group — stove knob settings
  • 🟩 Green group — potency
  • 🟦 Blue group — music theory concepts
  • 🟪 Purple group — "_____ Day" movies

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...

That was one of the easiest purple groups I can remember. I think for a lot of people, as soon as they see GROUNDHOG, they'll think of Groundhog Day. Having THE LONGEST right next to it confirmed my suspicion, and it didn't take long to find the other two.

I haven't seen The Longest Day, but I really like all of the other three movies. I was pretty young when I first saw Independence Day, and that was one of my best-ever cinema experiences.

(For the hint, I was using “segments” to refer to the hours in a day. I was also getting at films typically being projected at 24 frames per second. I don’t think that’s my finest work, but it’s the best I could think of without making it too easy for you.)

Anyway, the yellows were next up thanks to SIMMER. No problem at all there. Same for the greens. SCALE and KEY then made the blue category clear to me.

Bish bash bosh, that’s my 444th win in a row.

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

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 Thursday’s game if you need them.

P.S. “Boys in Skirts” is the second Kid Sistr song I’ve heard and the second one I’ve enjoyed. I’m digging what I’ve heard from this indie rock trio:

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 .