If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Wednesday, February 21, 2024, read on—I’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solutions to all four categories. Along the way, I’ll explain the meanings of the trickier words and we’ll learn how everything fits together. Beware, there are spoilers below for February 21, NYT Connections #255! Read on if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Connections game.
If you want an easy way to come back to our Connections hints every day, bookmark this page. You can also find our past hints there as well, in case you want to know what you missed in a previous puzzle.
Below, I’ll give you some oblique hints at today’s Connections answers. And farther down the page, I’ll reveal the themes and the answers. Scroll slowly and take just the hints you need!
Hints for the themes in today’s Connections puzzle
Here are some spoiler-free hints for the groupings in today’s Connections:
Yellow category - Annoys.
Green category - Shows to watch.
Blue category - Like padlocks, or musical compositions.
Purple category - If you hate to go here, you might grow up to be a mule.
BEWARE: Spoilers follow for today’s Connections puzzle!
We’re about to give away some of the answers. Scroll slowly if you don’t want the whole thing spoiled. (The full solution is a bit further down.)
A heads up about the tricky parts
This one is a bit sneakier than usual. Notice that HARD KNOCKS is plural, and thus, no relation to the song from the ANNIE musical. By the way, if you like Broadway shows, you’ll pick out one of today’s categories pretty easily.
The plural animals are not what they seem. CATS, by the way, is not like the others.
I’d like to give you one more clue, but I’m worried I’d give too much away—it would be the key to it all.
What are the categories in today’s Connections?
Yellow: PESTERS
Green: TONY WINNERS FOR BEST MUSICAL
Blue: THEY HAVE KEYS
Purple: SCHOOL OF ____
DOUBLE BEWARE: THE SOLUTION IS BELOW
Ready to learn the answers to today’s Connections puzzle? I give them all away below.
What are the yellow words in today’s Connections?
The yellow grouping is considered to be the most straightforward. The theme for today’s yellow group is PESTERS and the words are: BADGERS, BUGS, HOUNDS, NAGS.
What are the green words in today’s Connections?
The green grouping is supposed to be the second-easiest. The theme for today’s green category is TONY WINNERS FOR BEST MUSICAL and the words are: ANNIE, CABARET, CATS, COMPANY.
What are the blue words in today’s Connections?
The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is THEY HAVE KEYS and the words are: COMPUTER, PIANO, SUPER, TESTS.
What are the purple words in today’s Connections?
The purple grouping is considered to be the hardest. The theme for today’s purple category is SCHOOL OF ____ and the words are: FISH, HARD KNOCKS, ROCK, THOUGHT.
How I solved today’s Connections
HARD KNOCKS? That’s a metaphorical school. (I know better than to pair it with ANNIE, even though the famous orphan sings a song called “It’s a Hard Knock Life.” We pay attention to details here, like whether a word is plural.) What other schools are on the board? We can have a school of FISH, a school of THOUGHT, and wasn’t there a reality TV show called School of ROCK? (No. I was thinking of Rock of Love. But there is a movie called School of Rock.) 🟪
Next I saw BUGS, HOUNDS, and BADGERS, and figured there must be a category of annoyances. NAGS and TESTS both fit, but if I go with NAGS, there’s an animal theme (a nag being an old horse). That’s a hit. 🟨
ANNIE, CABARET, and CATS are all musicals. I can’t figure out what the remaining words have in common, so I have to pick which one is most likely to be a musical. COMPANY sounds like a winner, and I quickly Google it to check—yep, it’s a musical. 🟩
A COMPUTER and a PIANO both have keys; I guess a group of TESTS in a classroom might have a key? Or, I guess, all the TESTS in a school might, collectively, have many keys. That explains the plural. So how does SUPER fit in? Ah yes—you might call your apartment complex’s SUPER (superintendent) if you’re locked out. 🟦
Connections Puzzle #255 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟦🟦🟦🟦
How to play Connections
I have a full guide to playing Connections, but here’s a refresher on 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 one word or phrase. Your job is to select a group of four tiles that have something in common. Often they are all the same type of thing (for example: RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, and SNOW are all types of wet weather) but sometimes there is wordplay involved (for example, BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH are all types of lists: bucket list, guest list, and so on).
Select four items and hit 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 incorrect, you’ll get a chance to try again.
You win when you’ve correctly identified all four groups. But if you make four mistakes before you finish, the game ends and the answers are revealed.
How to win Connections
The most important thing to know to win Connections is that the groupings are designed to be tricky. Expect to see overlapping groups. For example, one puzzle seemed to include 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 hit “submit” until you’ve confirmed that your group of four contains only those four things.
If you’re stuck, another strategy is to look at the words that seem to have no connection to the others. If all that comes to mind when you see WHISTLER is the painting nicknamed “Whistler’s Mother,” you might be on to something. When I solved that one, I ended up googling whether there was a painter named Close, because Close didn’t fit any of the obvious themes, either.
Another way to win when you’re stuck is, obviously, to read a few helpful hints–which is why we share these pointers every day. Check back tomorrow for the next puzzle!