NYT Connections today — hints and answers for Wednesday, July 24 (game #409)

Is this an easier Connections puzzle? No chance! It's another tough one from the NYT, so read on for my hints.

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 #409) - today's words

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• KID
• CALF
• THIGH
• KIT
• TENDER
• SHOULDER
• MUSCLE
• RIB
• FAWN
• TEASE
• JOSTLE
• CUB
• BREAST
• BARGE
• RAZZ
• WING

NYT Connections today (game #409) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• Yellow: You're having a laugh
• Green: Finger lickin' good
• Blue: Awww, cute!
• Purple: Out of my way!

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 #409) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: JOKE AROUND WITH
• GREEN: POULTRY CUTS
• BLUE: BABY ANIMALS
• PURPLE: PUSH THROUGH A CROWD

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

NYT Connections today (game #409) - the answers

The answers to today's Connections, game #409, are…

• YELLOW: JOKE AROUND WITH KID, RAZZ, RIB, TEASE
• BLUE: BABY ANIMALS CALF, CUB, FAWN, KIT
• PURPLE: PUSH THROUGH A CROWD BARGE, JOSTLE, MUSCLE, SHOULDER
• GREEN: POULTRY CUTS BREAST, TENDER, THIGH, WING

• My rating: Moderate
• My score: 2 mistakes

The NYT's insistence on throwing misdirection into every Connections puzzle can grate a little. Today is a prime example, because I lost two guesses to what easily could or maybe should have been answers, but weren't. And in one case, I think the non answer was a better one than the actual solution.

My problems began with the baby animals group, which ended up being the blue one. I played CUB, CALF, KID and FAWN – because obviously they are all baby animals – but that was wrong. So I looked elsewhere and realized that KID could also go with TEASE and RIB, oh and RAZZ kind of fit, so I tried that and solved the yellow 'joke around with' group. Then I took another look at the animals again, swapped in KIT, and solved that one. Fine.

But that left eight answers. I'd already looked at SHOULDER, WING, THIGH and BREAST and figured it must be cuts of chicken, but hadn't yet guessed it because the presence of CALF, MUSCLE and RIB made me think there might have been a different meat or body-part related answer. But I tried it now, and – to my surprise – it was wrong. What gives? So I looked elsewhere and got the 'push through a crowd' group instead, adding SHOULDER to BARGE, JOSTLE and MUSCLE, which meant the last group was indeed 'poultry cuts' – but with TENDER in there instead. We don't even call them tenders in the UK, and even in the US surely it should be TENDERLOIN? I'm no expert, but anyway this was slightly frustrating even if technically it may have been allowed.

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

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Tuesday, 23 July, game #408)

• YELLOW: IMPOSTOR CHARLATAN, FRAUD, QUACK, SHAM
• GREEN: UTTERANCE NOISE, PEEP, SOUND, WORD
• BLUE: ONE WHO LIKES SHOWING OFF HAM, HOT DOG, PEACOCK, SHOWBOAT
• PURPLE: LOONEY TUNES CHARACTERS MINUS A LETTER BUG, PORK, SPEED, TWEET

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.