NYT Connections hints and answers for Monday, March 17 (game #645)

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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 Sunday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Sunday, March 16 (game #644).

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 #645) - today's words

NYT Connections hints for game 645 on a purple background

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

  • PICKUP
  • GARBAGE
  • ABANDON
  • FIBER
  • MAROON
  • FREEDOM
  • MC
  • STRAND
  • THREAD
  • MONSTER
  • SPONTANEITY
  • JACKSON
  • BEN FOLDS
  • STRING
  • UNRESTRAINT
  • DUMP

NYT Connections today (game #645) - hint #1 - group hints

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

  • YELLOW: Material
  • GREEN: Carefree words
  • BLUE: Big wheels 
  • PURPLE: Music artists 

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 #645) - hint #2 - group answers

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

  • YELLOW: FILAMENT 
  • GREEN: UNINHIBITEDNESS 
  • BLUE: KINDS OF TRUCKS 
  • PURPLE: BANDS MINUS THE NUMBER FIVE 

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

NYT Connections today (game #645) - the answers

NYT Connections answers for game 645 on a purple background

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #645, are…

  • YELLOW: FILAMENT FIBER, STRAND, STRING, THREAD
  • GREEN: UNINHIBITEDNESS ABANDON, FREEDOM, SPONTANEITY, UNRESTRAINT
  • BLUE: KINDS OF TRUCKS DUMP, GARBAGE, MONSTER, PICKUP
  • PURPLE: BANDS MINUS THE NUMBER FIVE BEN FOLDS, JACKSON, MAROON, MC

  • My rating: Easy
  • My score: Perfect

Seeing the name BEN FOLDS in Connections was a nice buzz – a good human, excellent songwriter, and of course forever associated with the number five, making BANDS MINUS THE NUMBER FIVE the most gettable purple group (for me at least) for a month. JACKSON and MAROON were also easy to find, but I took a guess on MC before remembering that they’re a heavy rock band.

Here’s a good game to play if you’re bored and with a friend – take it in turns to name artists with numbers in their names and see how far you can count. If you forget 15 and 18 you should be able to get to Matchbox 20.

Meanwhile, seeing MONSTER and PICKUP in close proximity made the Green group equally easy and it probably says a lot about my own lack of SPONTANEITY that I got UNINHIBITEDNESS last.

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


Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Sunday, 16 March, game #644)

  • YELLOW: BUNCH CLUSTER, COLLECTION, CONSTELLATION, GROUP
  • GREEN: ENDING WITH SILENT "T" BALLET, DEBUT, RAPPORT, TAROT
  • BLUE: SERIAL KILLER MOVIES MONSTER, PSYCHO, SEVEN, ZODIAC
  • PURPLE: STARTING WITH CONSTELLATIONS DRACONIAN, HYDRANT, LEONARDO, LIBRARY

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.