NYT Connections today — hints and answers for Saturday, July 20 (game #405)

It's the weekend! And that means you have another chance to solve a weekend Connections puzzle: they're the same as the weekday Connections puzzles, but on a weekend. Yay! Read on for my hints and commentary on today's game.

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 #405) - today's words

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• NATURAL
• SWEAT
• SODA
• WORK
• JUICE
• MAINSTREAM
• DAD
• FLUID
• BURST
• CHARGE
• BATTERY
• SMOOTH
• LABOR
• POWER
• GRACEFUL
• EFFORT

NYT Connections today (game #405) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• Yellow: No trouble
• Green: Put your back into it
• Blue: Essential for an electronic gadget
• Purple: Synonyms for a specific palindromic word that has three letters

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 #405) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: EFFORTLESS
• GREEN: EXERTION
• BLUE: ENERGY FOR AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE
• PURPLE: WHAT “POP” MIGHT MEAN

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

NYT Connections today (game #405) - the answers

The answers to today's Connections, game #405, are…

• YELLOW: EFFORTLESS FLUID, GRACEFUL, NATURAL, SMOOTH
• GREEN: EXERTION EFFORT, LABOR, SWEAT, WORK
• BLUE: ENERGY FOR AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE BATTERY, CHARGE, JUICE, POWER
• PURPLE: WHAT “POP” MIGHT MEAN BURST, DAD, MAINSTREAM, SODA

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

This was one of the easiest Connections puzzles I've played in a while. The whole thing only took me a couple of minutes, and I think I would even have solved the most difficult purple group if I'd have needed to (I didn't).

I didn't solve them in order; the blue 'energy' group stood out immediately to me, followed by the green 'exertion' and then the yellow 'effortless'. All very straightforward.

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

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Friday, 19 July, game #404)

• 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

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.