NYT Connections hints and answers for Wednesday, March 12 (game #640)

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Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Tuesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Tuesday, March 11 (game #639).

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 Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

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 #640) - today's words

NYT Connections hints for game 640 on a purple background

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

  • ORANGE
  • KETCHUP
  • ELMO
  • COTTON
  • SUGAR
  • EYE
  • ROSE
  • MONTH
  • EGGS
  • ROCK
  • PURPLE
  • BUTTER
  • FLOUR
  • CARDINAL
  • JOHN
  • SILVER

NYT Connections today (game #640) - hint #1 - group hints

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

  • YELLOW: Ready, steady, bake
  • GREEN: A color in common
  • BLUE: Impossible verse
  • PURPLE: Link rhymes with “dandy”

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 #640) - hint #2 - group answers

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

  • YELLOW: INGREDIENTS IN CLASSIC POUND CAKE
  • GREEN: THINGS THAT ARE RED 
  • BLUE: WORDS SAID TO HAVE NO EXACT RHYMES 
  • PURPLE: CANDY 

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

NYT Connections today (game #640) - the answers

NYT Connections answers for game 640 on a purple background

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #640, are…

  • YELLOW: INGREDIENTS IN CLASSIC POUND CAKE BUTTER, EGGS, FLOUR, SUGAR
  • GREEN: THINGS THAT ARE RED CARDINAL, ELMO, KETCHUP, ROSE
  • BLUE: WORDS SAID TO HAVE NO EXACT RHYMES MONTH, ORANGE, PURPLE, SILVER
  • PURPLE: CANDY COTTON, EYE, JOHN, ROCK

  • My rating: Moderate
  • My score: 1 mistake

Today’s puzzle took me down a nostalgia rabbit hole and gave me the munchies.

My two blind alleys were firstly thinking I was looking for pirates and then thinking there was a group connected to classic rock acts Elton JOHN and Deep PURPLE, which I gave up on after randomly adding SILVER and ROCK to that list and wasting a guess.

John and Silver also made me think about fish and chips – thanks to Long John SILVER’s restaurants – something which admittedly is never far from my thoughts.

The key that unlocked all four groups was CARDINAL. The lyrics “Cardinal landing in the dogwood” from Old Friends by Pinegrove popped into my head, I remembered they’re red and KETCHUP is red and from there everything fell into place and I needled my way home without another error – although I did think BUTTER, EGGS, FLOUR and SUGAR was a reference to pancakes, rather than pound cake.

How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.


Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Tuesday, 11 March, game #639)

  • YELLOW: VARIATION FROM THE NORM ALTERNATIVE, BREAK, CHANGE, DEPARTURE
  • GREEN: THINGS THAT RING ALARM, BELL, INTERCOM, PHONE
  • BLUE: THINGS TRADITIONALLY MADE OF LEATHER FOOTBALL, MOCCASINS, SADDLE, WALLET
  • PURPLE: SINGER-SONGWRITER PIANISTS KEYS, KING, LEGEND, WONDER

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.