NYT Connections today — hints and answers for Tuesday, July 16 (game #401)

Today's NYT Connections puzzle is another toughie. How difficult? Well, you'll have to play it to find out. But if you find yourself getting stuck, by all means take advantage of my helpful hints 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 #401) - today's words

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• PAN
• PILOT
• SHORT
• RABBIT
• CROSS
• PARKER
• KINKY
• TRIAL
• PIPER
• FIDDLER
• TESTY
• EXPLORATORY
• MERRILY
• SURLY
• PRELIMINARY
• JERSEY

NYT Connections today (game #401) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• Yellow: Not happy!
• Green: Try something
• Blue: Song and dance openers
• Purple: Name blank

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 #401) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: IN A BAD MOOD
• GREEN: EXPERIMENTAL
• BLUE: STARTS OF BROADWAY MUSICALS
• PURPLE: PETER ___

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

NYT Connections today (game #401) - the answers

The answers to today's Connections, game #401, are…

• YELLOW: IN A BAD MOOD CROSS, SHORT, SURLY, TESTY
• GREEN: EXPERIMENTAL EXPLORATORY, PILOT, PRELIMINARY, TRIAL
• BLUE: STARTS OF BROADWAY MUSICALS FIDDLER, JERSEY, KINKY, MERRILY
• PURPLE: PETER ___ PAN, PARKER, PIPER, RABBIT

• My rating: Moderate
• My score: Perfect

I got a bit hung up on the Y-ending words today, expecting some of them to go together but being unable to find a connection. As it turns out, three of them did form a group – unfortunately that group was 'Broadway musicals', which is about the least likely connection for me to ever find. Seriously, I'd have (a lot) more chance of getting a connection concerning particle physics than this.

Anyway, that was the blue group, and it became the one that I had to solve by default. It took me a while to get going, but once I established that EXPLORATORY, PILOT, PRELIMINARY and TRIAL all meant the same thing, I was underway. Next I spotted the purple group of 'Peter something', leaving only the SHORT, CROSS, SURLY and TESTY yellow group to finish with.

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

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Monday, 15 July, game #400)

• YELLOW: REGARD AS TRUE ACCEPT, BELIEVE, BUY, TRUST
• GREEN: FACADE BLUFF, FRONT, SHAM, SHOW
• BLUE: WAYS TO SECURE A TV BASE, BRACKET, MOUNT, STAND
• PURPLE: LIQUOR BOTTLE SIZES FIFTH, HANDLE, LITER, PINT

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.