If you’re looking for the answer to the Connections question for Wednesday, August 28, 2024, read on – I’ll give you some hints, tips and strategies, and finally the solutions for all four categories. Along the way, I’ll explain the meaning of the more difficult words and we’ll learn how it all fits together. Warning, below you will find spoilers for NYT Connections #444 from August 28th! Read on if you want some clues (and then the answer) about today’s Connections game.
If you want to easily access our connections tips every day, Bookmark this page. You can also find our previous clues there if you want to know what you missed in a previous puzzle.
Below I’ll give you some indirect clues about today’s Connections answers. And further down the page I’ll reveal the topics and answers. Scroll slowly and take only the clues you need!
Photo credit: Connections/NYT
Clues to the topics in today’s Connections Puzzle
Here are some spoiler-free clues about the groups in today’s Connections:
-
Yellow category – time for a break.
-
Green category – they are all suspended.
-
Blue category – They have a common adjective that refers to moisture.
-
Purple Category – A fill-in-the-blank question with one word that describes a very young person.
WARNING: Spoilers for today’s connections puzzle follow!
We’ll reveal some of the answers in a moment. Scroll slowly if you don’t want to give away everything. (The full solution is a little further down.)
A note on the tricky parts
Be careful before you make your guesses in the Playground category – there are some red herrings.
A GRADUATION ADVISOR is someone who does not drink alcohol.
There is no category with the “tea” sound, although many of these words are on the board.
What categories are there in today’s connections?
DOUBLE CAUTION: THE SOLUTION CAN BE FOUND BELOW
Want to know the answers to today’s Connections puzzle? I’ll reveal them all below.
What are the yellow words in today’s connections?
The yellow grouping is considered the easiest. The theme of today’s yellow group is PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT and the words are: CLIMBING EQUIPMENT, SLIDE, SWING, SEESAW.
What do the green words in today’s connections mean?
The green grouping is probably the second easiest. The theme for today’s green category is “FOUND AT THE END OF A STRING/CORD” and the words are: PENDULUM, TEA BAG, TETHERBALL, YO-YO.
What do the blue words mean in today’s connections?
The blue grouping is the second most difficult. The theme for today’s blue category is DESCRIBED AS DRY and the words are: DESERT, HUMOR, MARTINI, TEETOTALER.
What are the purple words in today’s connections?
The purple group is considered the most difficult. The topic of today’s purple category is BABY ___ and the words are: BLUES, BOOMER, STEPS, TEETH.
How I solved today’s connections
Interesting board today. I see some playground equipment for children on the board – let’s see if that’s enough for a category.
OK, we have CLIMBING EQUIPMENT, TETHER BALL, SLIDE and TWIST BALL. SWING might also work, so I’ll keep looking at what I can exclude with another category.
Pendulums, swings, yo-yos, and see-saws all have a back-and-forth motion, but that would exclude my playground category, so I’m not willing to get involved in that either.
TEETH, TEA BAG, TEETOTALER and TEETER-TOTTER all start with the sound “tee”.
Oh, and YO-YO, TEA BAG, TETHERBALL, and PENDULUM are all objects that hang from a string. For some reason, that actually feels like the strongest punch. Let’s try it. 🟩 Great.
OK, let’s try CLIMBING EQUIPMENT, SLIDES, SWINGS and SEASINGS. 🟨
Ah, I get it – MARTINI, DESERT, ABSTINENT and HUMOR are all words that can be described as “dry”. A dry martini contains less vermouth and a teetotaler is someone who doesn’t drink alcohol – also referred to as “dry”. 🟦
That leaves STEPS, BOOMER, TEETH and BLUES. Hmm. BLUES is a type of music and also refers to sadness. BOOMER could refer to a Baby BOOMER. Oh, that’s it, they all belong to “Baby”. Baby STEPS refers to small, gradual progress; Baby BOOMER; Baby TEETH; and Baby BLUES refers to postpartum depression.🟪
Connections Puzzle #444 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟪🟪🟪🟪
How to play Connections
I have a full How to play Connectionsbut here is a refresher of the rules:
First, find the Connections game either on the New York Times website or in their games app (formerly the Crossword app). You’ll see a game board with 16 tiles, each with a word or phrase. Your task is to select a group of four tiles that have something in common. Often they’re all the same type (for example: RAIN, SNOW, HAIL and SNOW are all types of wet weather), but sometimes there are word games (for example: BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN and WISH are all types of Lists: bucket list, guest list, etc.).
Select four items and click the submit button. If you guessed correctly, the category and color will be revealed. (Yellow is easiest, followed by green, then blue, then purple.) If your guess was wrong, you’ll have the option to try again.
You win if you identify all four groups correctly, but if you make four mistakes before you finish, the game is over and the answers are revealed.
How to gain connections
The most important thing to know about winning Connections is that the groupings are tricky. Expect overlapping groups. For example, one puzzle appeared to contain six breakfast foods: BACON, EGG, PANCAKE, OMELET, WAFFLE, and CEREAL. But BACON turned out to be part of a group of painters along with CLOSE, MUNCH, and WHISTLER, and EGG was in a group of things that come by the dozen (along with JUROR, ROSE, and MONTH). So don’t click submit until you’ve confirmed that your group of four includes only these four things.
If you get stuck, you can also look at the words that NO Connection to the others. If the only thing that comes to mind when you think of WHISTLER is the painting nicknamed “Whistler’s Mother,” you may be on the right track. Once I had that problem solved, I ended up Googling whether there was a painter named Close, because Close didn’t fit any of the obvious themes either.
Of course, another way to win if you get stuck is to read a few helpful hints – that’s why we share these clues every day. Check back tomorrow to read the next puzzle!
