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 Wednesday:

Hey there, Connectors! I hope you’ve had a great week so far.

I find it interesting that a language can have many words to describe something of which there’s an abundance in its country of origin. For instance, I recently learned from one of my favorite newsletters that Greenlandic seemingly has more than 70 words for ice and more than 50 words for snow. As for Japanese, that has more than 100 dedicated words to describe rain.

I don’t really have a big takeaway here. I just find that neat. I’m not sure that anyone learning those languages will necessarily agree, though!

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 Thursday, May 28 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.

  • JUMP
  • BAR
  • PRESS
  • LODGE
  • BENCH
  • LIFT
  • MEDIA
  • HUNCH
  • NEWS
  • STOOP
  • STAND
  • PAPERS
  • SQUAT
  • DUCK
  • SLOPE
  • PODIUM

Today’s NYT Connections Hints

And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:

  • 🟨 Yellow group — like when a great song comes on, it's time to get down
  • 🟩 Green group — holding truth to power is a core tenet
  • 🟦 Blue group — might want to test these out in a trial
  • 🟪 Purple group — like run, free and mask

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 — SQUAT
  • 🟩 Green group — NEWS
  • 🟦 Blue group — PODIUM
  • 🟪 Purple group — SLOPE

Today’s NYT Connections Categories

Today’s Connections groups are...

  • 🟨 Yellow group — get low
  • 🟩 Green group — fourth estate
  • 🟦 Blue group — parts of a courtroom
  • 🟪 Purple group — ski _____

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 got the greens right away. Journalism! The yellows were next up. No problem there either.

I thought the blues were just elevated platforms. But sure, they can be parts of a courtroom too, I guess. That left the purples for the win. Didn't take long to figure out that category.

Aside from a workout-related red herring, this seems like a fairly straightforward edition of Connections . Hope it didn't give you too much trouble either. That's win 452 on the spin 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 Friday’s game if you need them.

P.S. Here’s another Eurodance classic in what somehow morphed into a theme week of such music. I think “Better Off Alone” by Alice Deejay has a slightly harder edge than some of the other songs I’ve offered up this week. But no matter how you slice it, this is still a banger:

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 .