NYT Connections today — hints and answers for Tuesday, August 27 (game #443)

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need clues.

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 #443) - today's words

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• KICK
• THUNDER
• BRUSH
• HEAT
• GEL
• SET
• MAGIC
• FIRE
• CLIPPERS
• ROAR
• CAPE
• TAROT
• BOOM
• SPICE
• BASEBALL
• CRASH

NYT Connections today (game #443) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• Yellow: big sound
• Green: Hot ones
• Blue: Cut and style
• Purple: Play them right

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 #443) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: EXPLOSIVE SOUND
• GREEN: CHILI PEPPER QUALITY
• BLUE: CLASSIC BARBERSHOP SUPPLIES
• PURPLE: KINDS OF CARDS

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

NYT Connections today (game #443) - the answers

The answers to today's Connections, game #443, are…

• YELLOW: EXPLOSIVE SOUND BOOM, CRASH, ROAR, THUNDER
• GREEN: CHILI PEPPER QUALITY FIRE, HEAT, KICK, SPICE
• BLUE: CLASSIC BARBERSHOP SUPPLIES BRUSH, CAPE, CLIPPERS, GEL
• PURPLE: KINDS OF CARDS BASEBALL, MAGIC, SET, TAROT

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 3 mistakes

Phew! I narrowly avoided yet another Connections fail today – but it owed a lot to luck. Once again I lost guesses on red herrings – I thought that maybe there was a basketball connection (HEAT, THUNDER, CLIPPERS, MAGIC) but that was wrong, or that there was something to do with wizards/witches (CAPE, MAGIC, TAROT? FIRE??) but that was (rightly) even more wrong. And then finally I guessed a hairdresser-related one with BRUSH, CLIPPERS, GEL and, er, SET) and was nearly right.

With no chances left I needed to get them all correct first guess now, and looking around spotted the yellow 'Explosive sound' group. Returning to hairdressers/barbershops I added CAPE and got blue, then put four hot-sounding words together for the Chili pepper group. It was a close-run thing, but I scraped home.

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

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Monday, 26 August, game #442)

• YELLOW: OFFICIAL SANCTIONING APPROVAL, BLESSING, CONSENT, SUPPORT
• GREEN: TORUS-SHAPED THINGS BAGEL, LIFESAVER, TIRE, WREATH
• BLUE: BAD GOLF SHOTS HOOK, SHANK, SLICE, WHIFF
• PURPLE: FOOTWEAR MINUS “ER” SOUND LOAF, SLIP, SNEAK, WADE

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.