Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle could be tough. That purple caregory throws out a term for a kind of word that many people have never heard of before. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group, to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Hold together.

Green group hint: Formal way to describe an informal activity.

Blue group hint: Get to the alley.

Purple group hint: Opposing meanings in one word.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Attach with adhesive.

Green group: Polite terms for sex.

Blue group: Bowling results.

Purple group: Contronyms (words that can mean opposite things).

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is attach with adhesive. The four answers are adhere, affix, glue and stick.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is polite terms for sex. The four answers are congress, commerce, intimacy and relations.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is bowling results. The four answers are foul, spare, split and strike.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is contronyms (words that can mean opposite things). The four answers are cleave, garnish, oversight and sanction.

Sometimes, the best way to deal with a stressful world is to take a step back, and the right game can offer exactly that. Between rising costs, relentless news cycles and nonstop digital noise, it’s easy to feel burned out. But cozy games give you permission to slow down, breathe and reset. And no, self-care doesn’t have to mean meditation or scented candles. Sometimes it just means curling up with a game that makes you feel good.

Whether you’re nurturing crops on a peaceful farm, solving gentle puzzles, decorating a virtual home or exploring a low-stakes fantasy world, these relaxing games are the perfect way to unplug without tuning out completely. They’re accessible, often affordable, and ideal for casual gamers or anyone needing a mental health break. 

You can find a bunch of these on the best game subscription services, and some you might have to hunt down, but they’re all worth it. Bonus: Many are available on Switch, PC, mobile or even Game Pass, so they’re easy to fit into your routine. If you’re searching for stress relief, escapism or just a reason to smile, these cozy games are worth the download.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a funny one. Some of the words were easy, but others took me a little thought to unscramble. If you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story. 

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: «Sorry, didn’t catch that.»

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Messed it up!

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

• TORT, TORTS, PORT, PORTS, POLE, BIFF, BORE, BORES, BELL, BELLS, FELL, BUTS, POOL, PORE, PORES, LOOP, FORT, FORTS

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

• MUFF, ERROR, FAULT, WHIFF, BOBBLE, FUMBLE, BLOOPER

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is SPORTSGOOF. To find it, look for the S that’s five letters down on the first row to the left, and wind across and down.