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 spectacular weekend.

Let’s kick things off as we usually do in Monday editions of this column with a fun, upbeat song. This time around, we’re going with a Motown classic, “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)” by Four Tops. It’s a sweet song about professing one’s love for another, or at least trying to:

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 occasionally publish longer pieces along similar lines there as well. I think you’d dig them.

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Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase

Today’s NYT Connections hints and answers for Monday, July 27 are coming right up. Let’s get rolling!

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

After today’s Connections word list, I’ll give you a hint for each category. After that, I’ll reveal one word that goes into each group. Then I’ll reveal the categories, followed by the full answers.

  • CART
  • HORSE
  • CARROT
  • STICK
  • KNITTING NEEDLE
  • MAGNIFYING GLASS
  • BEAM
  • GRAVEYARD
  • BELL
  • ICICLE
  • RINGS
  • HEART
  • PARADIGM
  • STALACTITE
  • DOPPLER
  • VAULT

A Hint For Today’s Connections Groups

The hints for today’s Connections categories are:

  • 🟨 Yellow group — you might go head over heels for these
  • 🟩 Green group — they've got a good point
  • 🟦 Blue group — like moving something slightly
  • 🟪 Purple group — check these out to check out

One Answer For Each Connections Group

Be warned: we’re starting to get into spoiler territory.

Let’s take a look at one answer for each group.

  • 🟨 Yellow group — BEAM
  • 🟩 Green group — KNITTING NEEDLE
  • 🟦 Blue group — STICK
  • 🟪 Purple group — MAGNIFYING GLASS

Today’s Connections Categories

Today’s Connections groups are...

  • 🟨 Yellow group — gymnastics apparatus
  • 🟩 Green group — long tapered things
  • 🟦 Blue group — kinds of shifts
  • 🟪 Purple group — icons on a shopping site

What Is Today’s Connections Answer?

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...

  • 🟨 Yellow group — gymnastics apparatus (BEAM, HORSE, RINGS, VAULT)
  • 🟩 Green group — long tapered things (CARROT, ICICLE, KNITTING NEEDLE, STALACTITE)
  • 🟦 Blue group — kinds of shifts (DOPPLER, GRAVEYARD, PARADIGM, STICK)
  • 🟪 Purple group — icons on a shopping site (BELL, CART, HEART, MAGNIFYING GLASS)

The top line tickled me, as it literally put the CART before the HORSE. I was amused.

GRAVEYARD and PARADIGM were my gateways into the blues. Took me a minute to realize DOPPER was the fourth word I needed. The yellows were next, no problem there.

ICICLE and STALACTITE brought to mind the shapes of each object, so I was able to get the greens. CART and HEART then made the purple category clear to me as I wrapped up my 512th win on the spin.

How did you get on this time? 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 :

Be sure to check my blog tomorrow for hints and the answer for tomorrow’s game of Connections if you need them.

P.S. Robyn doesn’t really miss. Her cover of “Always” by Erasure – a song I like very much – is terrific:

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. I’d really appreciate that as it helps me out. If you share this column with others who play Connections, that would be lovely too. You can also read my weekend editions of this column and more of my writing at my newsletter, Pastimes .