Crack the Code: NYT Connections #831 Drops Today—Are You Ready to Outsmart the Puzzle Masters?

Ever find yourself staring blankly at a jumble of words, wondering if your brain is actually doing its job? Welcome to the delightful, head-scratching world of the New York Times Connections game, where today’s puzzle #831 nearly had me tearing my hair out before I cracked it — barely. It’s the kind of challenge that teases your grey matter, mixing the colors yellow, green, blue, and purple into groups that feel almost maddeningly elusive. I’ve got to admit, while yellow and green came to me like old friends, blue and purple totally threw me into a bit of a spin — turns out, even experienced “connectors” get a run for their money. If you’re new to this brain teaser (or just need a leg up), stick around — I’ll spill some juicy hints, share what tripped me up, and even give you a sneak peek at the answers (spoiler alert, but hey, no shame in peeking; these puzzles are made to boggle). And if you want to keep your word skills sharp beyond Connections, I’ve got some Wordle hints waiting too! Ready to up your game and outsmart these tricky word clusters? Let’s dive in. LEARN MORE

Staring at the words, trying to figure out today’s groups for the New York Times Connections game? I solved this one already (barely), so I’ll share some hints (and spoilers if you want them) to help you get through Friday’s puzzle: #831. Don’t feel bad for taking a peek — these puzzles are designed to confuse you.

Since we’re in this together, I’ll share how I did each day. I solved yellow and green pretty quick, but purple and blue threw me for a loop. It took two guesses before I realized what I needed to solve purple. Blue was the hardest group.

If you’re new to NYT Connections, we’ve got some tips to help you along the way. Also, check out today’s Wordle hints and answer.

How to play NYT Connections

NYT Connections is a surprisingly difficult word game and if you play, you’re now considered a “connector.” There are 16 words presented in a four-by-four grid and your goal is to match four words into their respective color-coded groups (yellow, green, blue, purple). Yellow is the easiest to guess while purple is the hardest.

Your job is to find out how the four words are connected to a specific group. For instance, in one recent puzzle, the blue group hint was “related to buying a home” and the words were appraisal, escrow, insurance and mortgage.

If you make a mistake when you submit, that’s okay. You get four guesses before the game is over and the answers are revealed. You can also click on the lightbulb icon in the game to get some hints, but we’ll also provide those here.

If you find yourself obsessed with this game after completing just one puzzle, I’ve got bad news for you. You can only play once a day. The timer resets each night at midnight.

Tips for playing NYT Connections

I only recently started playing Connections, but here are some tips I’ve found useful along the way.

1. When you get an answer wrong, pay attention to the text that appears at the top of the puzzle. “One away” means you only got one word wrong. Analyze each word to find one that might fit better in another group and try a new word.

2. If you’re stuck, shuffle the board. You can shuffle as many times as you’d like to help you see some different word combinations.

3. Try to find the easy yellow group words first. Those words usually stick out because they have so much in common — they’re often synonyms of one another. But be wary of the trick words that could fit into multiple categories.

4. Stumped? Come back to the puzzle later with a fresher mind. Trying to solve a difficult puzzle without “sleeping” on it might result in too many mistakes.

Today’s NYT Connections hints

Check out these hints if you’re having a hard time grouping them together.

I’ll give you my own hints:

Yellow group: Determine the numerical value of something

Green group: Anxious

Blue group: Not walk, but…

Purple group: Sheet of…

Here’s one word from each group:

Yellow group hint word: Rank

Green group hint word: Fidget

Blue group hint word: Mascara

Purple group hint word: Towel

Okay, on to the official group names for a bigger hint. If you don’t want to know what those are, then stop scrolling.

NYT Connections group names

Here are the group names for today’s puzzle.

Yellow group: Evaluate

Green group: Exhibit nervousness

Blue group: Things that can run, annoyingly

Purple group: Paper ___

Warning, spoilers ahead! If you scroll past this, the answers are right below.

Final warning! Last chance to go back and finish the game.

Today’s NYT Connections answers (spoilers)

Here are the Connections groups and the words that go with them.

Yellow group: Evaluate (grade, rank, rate, score)

Green group: Exhibit nervousness (blush, fidget, pace, sweat)

Blue group: Things that can run, annoyingly (dye, mascara, nose, stockings)

Purple group: Paper ___ (clip, tiger, towel, trail)

My results today

I had to put on my thinking cap today for the purple group. It took me a couple of failed attempts before I realized “paper” pairs with four of those words — but it also took me a bit to realize “tiger” belonged in that group. I don’t think I would’ve guessed blue today as it was more difficult than usual.

🟨🟨🟨🟨

🟩🟩🟩🟩

🟦🟦🟪🟪

🟦🟦🟪🟪

🟪🟪🟪🟦

🟪🟪🟪🟪

🟦🟦🟦🟦

Thanks for reading! Share how you did today in the comments.