NYT Connections today — hints and answers for Sunday, July 14 (game #399)

Today's Connections is a fitting one for a lazy Sunday – it's not too hard, so you can solve it at your leisure over a long breakfast. But if you do need some hints, you'll find them below.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Wordle hints and answers , Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #399) - today's words

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• FINE
• BUTTER
• MINT
• DOUGH
• POINT
• LINE
• FAIR
• TRADE
• BRAZIL
• PINE
• FIELD
• PRONG
• BUSINESS
• TIP
• GOOD
• TINE

NYT Connections today (game #399) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• Yellow: They're all narrow
• Green: What kind of shape is it in?
• Blue: What sort of work do you do?
• Purple: Goes before something you can eat

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #399) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: SLENDER PROJECTIONS
• GREEN: CONDITIONS FOR COLLECTIBLES
• BLUE: PROFESSION
• PURPLE: WORDS BEFORE “NUT”

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #399) - the answers

The answers to today's Connections, game #399, are…

• YELLOW: SLENDER PROJECTIONS POINT, PRONG, TINE, TIP
• GREEN: CONDITIONS FOR COLLECTIBLES FAIR, FINE, GOOD, MINT
• BLUE: PROFESSION BUSINESS, FIELD, LINE, TRADE
• PURPLE: WORDS BEFORE “NUT” BRAZIL, BUTTER, DOUGH, PINE

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

It's a rare day indeed when I solve the purple group at all – and it's even rarer when I solve it before any of the others. But then again, it's also not often that it's as easy as today's NUT-based connection. The second I saw both BRAZIL and PINE in the same puzzle I knew there was a good chance they were linked, and on noticing DOUGH and BUTTER too I was convinced.

Unsurprisingly, the other three groups were easier still, and for once I can genuinely say that I would have got the final one (which for me was blue, 'profession') even if it hadn't been by default.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Saturday, 13 July, game #398)

• YELLOW: ENORMOUS GIANT, MAMMOTH, MONSTER, TITANIC
• GREEN: EMBODIMENT AVATAR, CHARACTER, FIGURE, PERSONA
• BLUE: COME ACROSS AS APPEAR, LOOK, SEEM, SOUND
• PURPLE: SILENT “T” CASTLE, HUSTLE, LISTEN, WITCH

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.