NYT 'Connections' August 18: Clues and Answers for Game #434

Whether you’re looking to maintain your Connections win streak or start a new one, Newsweek has all the tips you need to secure a word game victory.

Since its launch by The New York Times in June last year, Connections has quickly become a popular online hit.

The game uses a mix of techniques, such as homophones and wordplay, to challenge players, ensuring the puzzles are rarely simple.

It has now become the newspaper’s second most-played game, behind the word-based puzzle Wordle.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to play Connections, share some tips and tricks, and provide clues to help you solve Sunday’s puzzle.

Answers for today’s puzzle are near the end of the article, so proceed with caution.

Woman playing mobile game on smartphone at home. Newsweek has gathered some tips for today’s New York Times Connections puzzle.

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How to Play Connections

Connections challenges players to categorize 16 words into four groups based on their associations.

Each group is color-coded to reflect its difficulty: Yellow for the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. The puzzles are rarely straightforward, often featuring homophones, wordplay, and other techniques to keep players challenged. If players get stuck, they can use the shuffle button to rearrange the words on the screen.

Wyna Liu, a crossword editor at the Times who developed Connections, recently shared her tips for playing the game with Newsweek.

“My best piece of advice is to wait as long as you can before guessing,” she said.

“You may see the board and have completely identified the category, seeing five words that could belong in that category,” she continued. “Don’t try to guess the four words in that category because even though you know what the fifth member is, you won’t know which of the four it might not be,” which would ultimately waste a turn.

“Don’t do what I do, which is ‘rage solve,'” Liu added.