NYT Connections today — hints and answers for Friday, July 19 (game #404)

The week comes to an end with a fairly easy Connections puzzle that I don't think will cause people too many problems. It's certainly easier than yesterday's. But still might want some hints to help you solve it; if you do, simply scroll down.

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 #404) - today's words

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• REGULAR
• COFFEE
• PLUS
• WATER
• STEADY
• SLIGHT
• POOL
• FLAME
• BURN
• PERIODIC
• DIESEL
• DIG
• LOVER
• PREMIUM
• JAB
• SWEETHEART

NYT Connections today (game #404) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• Yellow: One and only
• Green: Say mean words
• Blue: Fill up
• Purple: Blank [something you put things on?]

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 #404) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: ROMANTIC PARTNER
• GREEN: INSULT
• BLUE: GAS PUMP OPTIONS
• PURPLE: ___ TABLE

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

NYT Connections today (game #404) - the answers

The answers to today's Connections, game #404, are…

• YELLOW: ROMANTIC PARTNER FLAME, LOVER, STEADY, SWEETHEART
• GREEN: INSULT BURN, DIG, JAB, SLIGHT
• BLUE: GAS PUMP OPTIONS DIESEL, PLUS, PREMIUM, REGULAR
• PURPLE: ___ TABLE COFFEE, PERIODIC, POOL, WATER

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

One of the first things I do with any Connections puzzle is look for the outliers; scan the board, read the words and see which ones don't have multiple meanings or possibilities. DIESEL is a great example: it's not a word that appears in many contexts, unlike, say, FLAME or DIG or POOL. So once I focused on that I was easily able to match it with PREMIUM, PLUS and REGULAR, and my game was up and running with the (supposedly) second hardest now complete. From there, it was a cinch to complete the remainder.

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

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Thursday, 18 July, game #403)

• YELLOW: OPEN SPACE COURT, PLAZA, SQUARE, YARD
• GREEN: BOXING UNIT BOUT, CONTEST, MATCH, ROUND
• BLUE: GLITZINESS DAZZLE, FLASH, POMP, RITZ
• PURPLE: EMOJI FIRE, HEART, SKULL, SPARKLES

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.