NYT Connections today hints and answers — Wednesday, August 21 (#437)

1. Today's hints

2. Today's answer

3. Yesterday's answer

Looking for today's Connections answers? The Connections answers on August 21 for puzzle #437 shoots up in difficulty from yesterday's answers, with the Connections Companion rating this puzzle's difficulty at 3.4 out of 5.

Every day, we update this article with Connections hints and tips to help you find all 4 of today's answers. And if the hints aren't enough, you'll find all 4 answers below, with the category titles and the correlating words. Plus, we're including a reflection on yesterday's puzzle, #436, in case you're reading this in a different time zone.

Spoilers lie ahead for Connections #437. Only read on if you want to know today's Connections answers.

Alternatively, visit our how to play NYT Connections guide for tips on how to solve the puzzle without our help.

Today's Connections answer — hints to help you solve it

Unlike our guide to today's Wordle answer , where we recommend the best Wordle start words as your strategy, solving Connections relies on identifying connecting categories among 16 words. Each category's difficulty level is represented by a color; yellow is the easiest grouping, and purple is the most challenging. Once you've made 4 mistakes in your guesses, the answers will be revealed, so hints can be helpful.

If you need hints to solve the groupings, then here are the themes of each, based on the order of difficulty:

• 🟨 Yellow : Cover with a thick layer
• 🟩 Green : Things that are inflated
• 🟦 Blue : Kinds of charts
• 🟪 Purple : Classic cocktail types

These hints should get you at least some of the way towards finding today's Connections answers. If not, then you can read on for bigger clues; or, if you just want to know the answer, then scroll down further.

Here's a larger hint: Mix up a stiff drink while perusing some charts before blowing things up while layering up.

Today's Connections answers

So, what are today's Connections answers for game #437?

Drumroll, please...

• 🟨 Cover with a thick layer: Cake, coat, plaster, smear
• 🟩 Things that are inflated: Balloon, basketball, floatie, tire
• 🟦 Kinds of charts: Bar, bubble, line, pie
• 🟪 Classic cocktail types: Fizz, punch, sling, sour

After slogging my way through yesterday's allegedly easier puzzle, today's "harder" puzzle was a nice reset.

I got things going by spotting the purple category first with fizz, punch, sling and sour. Though my mental connection was gin-based cocktails. The four listed are good with gin but can be made with other liquors.

Yellow was the next completion with cake, coat, plaster and smear. Not much to say there.

The air trap did get me as I took a strike putting balloon, floatie, basketball and bubble together. It was an easy swap to put tire down instead.

I am relatively chart free in my life but bar, line and pie made sense. I don't think I've ever consciously seen a bubble chart or knew that's what it was called. Always nice to learn something new.

Yesterday's Connections answers

Reading this in a later time zone? Here are the Connections answers for game #436, which had a difficulty rating of 3 out of 5, according to the Connections Companion .

Allegedly, today's grid is easier than Monday's puzzle. Not for me.

I won't say how long I spent sussing out the blue and purple categories because I don't actually know but I did have to take a break and come back to it.

I started the day with green snagging crank, reel, turn and wind.

I was already thinking about yellow and so blow, draft, gust and puff fell soon after I put in the green words.

I took some strikes here as I could not see the blue or purple category for the life of me.

Usually, I am able to make some kind of mental connection but the brain was not working today. The only reason I got the blue category was wild guessing after nearly striking out. Should I have known bull, crab, lion and ram are zodiac symbols, yes, but not today.

It's too bad because purple is fun with Dr. Seuss title figures in Cat (in the hat), (How the) Grinch (Stole Christmas), (Hop on) Pop, and (Yertle the) Turtle (and other stories).

It goes like that sometimes.