NYT Connections— Today’s NYT Connections puzzle, #731, offered players a creative and challenging word game filled with clever categories and nostalgic references. As The New York Times’ second-most-played game after Wordle, Connections continues to captivate fans with its daily mix of logic, language, and lateral thinking.
Each day, Connections presents 16 seemingly unrelated words that must be sorted into four thematic groups. Today’s groups were:
- 🟨 Boast: bluster, crow, show off, strut
- 🟩 Arc-Shaped Things: banana, eyebrow, flight path, rainbow
- 🟦 Cereal Mascots: count, elves, leprechaun, rooster
- 🟪 Citation Symbols: asterisk, dagger, number, parens
As always, the difficulty was color-coded, with yellow being the easiest and purple typically offering the toughest challenge. Many solvers breezed through the boasting terms but found themselves pausing on the deceptively tricky citation symbols.
Highlights from Puzzle #731
The yellow category, themed around boasting, used expressive verbs like strut and bluster, setting an easy entry point for most players. In contrast, the green arc-themed group required visualization — identifying how bananas, eyebrows, and rainbows share a curved shape.
One of the most nostalgic and enjoyable parts of the puzzle was the blue group, spotlighting cereal mascots such as Count Chocula and the Rice Krispies elves. Meanwhile, the purple group tripped up many users, as terms like dagger and parens often appear in non-grammatical contexts, making their citation-related connection less obvious.
How to Improve Your NYT Connections Game
Fans aiming to improve their solving skills are encouraged to use strategies like saying words aloud, breaking down compound terms, and using the shuffle button to rearrange the word grid. NYT also now offers a Connections Bot, allowing players to track their performance and streaks much like Wordle’s companion bot.
With a new puzzle dropping every midnight, Connections has become a daily ritual for word lovers. As The New York Times continues to expand its gaming section, puzzles like these continue to blend fun, challenge, and a surprising amount of education.
Pro tip: Always start with the yellow group — it builds early momentum and helps narrow down more abstract categories like today’s purple group.