NYT Connections hints and answers for Thursday, May 15 (game #704)

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 Wednesday’s puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Wednesday, May 14 (game #703).

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 #704) – today’s words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today’s NYT Connections words are…

FLUTE
MADRID
GROUNDS
ICE
ESTATE
POWDER
SEVILLE
FOUNDATION
BUTTERFLY
WORLD
REASON
CRUST
SLUSH
BASIS
BESS
DEAL

NYT Connections today (game #704) – hint #1 – group hints

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

YELLOW: Trust the process
GREEN: It covers mountains
BLUE: Partial names of famous scores
PURPLE: Precede with word that rhymes with “meal”

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 #704) – hint #2 – group answers

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

YELLOW: RATIONALE
GREEN: TYPES OF SNOW
BLUE: LAST WORDS OF FAMOUS OPERA TITLES
PURPLE: REAL ___

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

NYT Connections today (game #704) – the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today’s Connections, game #704, are…

YELLOW: RATIONALE BASIS, FOUNDATION, GROUNDS, REASON
GREEN: TYPES OF SNOW CRUST, ICE, POWDER, SLUSH
BLUE: LAST WORDS OF FAMOUS OPERA TITLES BESS, BUTTERFLY, FLUTE, SEVILLE
PURPLE: REAL ___ DEAL, ESTATE, MADRID, WORLD

My rating: Moderate
My score: 1 mistake

Seeing two Spanish cities in the grid of 16 words immediately threw me and it wasn’t until the final two groups that I dismissed the possibility of them being part of the same group – even though the Connections spider senses knew that they weren’t.

For RATIONALE, I thought we were looking for construction terms, but I was happy to get the right four words regardless.

TYPES OF SNOW was easier, but I will admit that although I knew SEVILLE, BUTTERFLY and FLUTE were all LAST WORDS OF FAMOUS OPERA TITLES (Barber of Seville, Madame Butterfly and Magic Flute) I wasn’t thinking about Porgy when I added BESS.

I am annoyed that I didn’t get REAL ____, especially as it included Spanish football team Real Madrid – the REAL in their case meaning Royal rather than genuine.

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

Yesterday’s NYT Connections answers (Wednesday, May 14, game #703)

YELLOW: ABSORB USING CAPILLARY ACTION DRAW, PULL, SUCK, WICK
GREEN: GREEK PREFIXES HYPER, KILO, META, NEO
BLUE: TITULAR TALKING ANIMALS OF FILM BABE, BOLT, DUMBO, TED
PURPLE: STARTING WITH SILENT LETTERS GNOME, KNEE, MNEMONIC, PSYCHE

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.