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 is a fun one. Even the purple category, which requires you to play around with the letters in the words, is entertaining. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times 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 the 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: Treat unfairly.

Green group hint: Make someone feel intimidated.

Blue group hint: You like me!

Purple group hint: Animal names, with a twist.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Exploit.

Green group: Daunt.

Blue group: Iconic actresses.

Purple group: Mammals minus last letter.

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 exploit. The four answers are drain, fleece, milk and squeeze.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is daunt. The four answers are buffalo, cow, rattle and ruffle.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is iconic actresses. The four answers are (Glenn) Close, (Sally) Field, (Jodie) Foster and (Sigourney) Weaver.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is mammals minus last letter. The four answers are badge (badger), goa (goat), moos (moose) and rabbi (rabbit).

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

If you’re budget-conscious and need to free up a few more dollars, switching to a prepaid phone plan could help. You have to pay in advance, but that’s also why these plans tend to be cheaper. Right now, T-Mobile is offering prepaid plans for as little as $40 per month. But that’s not all. They’re also throwing in a five-year price guarantee to sweeten the pot.

T-Mobile hasn’t provided a deadline for this deal, so acting fast is the best way to score this discount.

T-Mobile’s Starter monthly costs $45 for the first month, and goes down to $40 per month if you enroll in AutoPay. It includes unlimited talk and text, 15GB premium data you can use for a hotspot and unlimited 2GB after that. Need two lines? That’ll get you a discount of $15, bringing your bill down to as low as $65 per month.

The Unlimited monthly plan costs $50 for the first month and goes down to $45 per month if enrolled in AutoPay. This one includes unlimited 5G, 50GB of premium data and unlimited hotspot with 3G speeds. Two lines can score you a $20 savings, which means you’ll potentially pay only $70 per month.

T-Mobile’s final option is Unlimited monthly, which costs $65 on the first month and then costs you only $60 with AutoPay. In addition to many of the features in other plans, you get unlimited international texting from the US and free talk and text to Mexico and Canada. Opening two lines gets you a massive $35 off, which could bring your bill down to as little as $85.

All plans include scam block, T-Mobile Tuesdays MLB TV (where available) and a 5-year price guarantee. Taxes and fees are charged separately. Data users might notice slower speeds during congestion. Videos stream in SD resolution. Finally, California residents can discuss options with California Lifeline sell service with Assurance, which is owned by T-Mobile.

Want to compare your phone plan options? We’ve got a list of the best cheap phone plans and best prepaid plans.

Why this deal matters

Cell phone plans can quickly get costly, what with fees taxes or data surcharges for heavy data users. However, prepaid phone plans from reputable carriers like T-Mobile offer lower prices and lots of the same features of traditional monthly plans. These particular deals also offer significant savings when opening two lines, which is a great deal for families who need to save. Keep in mind that you need to enroll in AutoPay to pay the lowest price advertised, and you’re good to go.

You don’t need to buy the latest Galaxy Ultra phone, plus you can save money. I’ll explain.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra has some of the best specs of any smartphone today, but it also comes with a huge $1,300 price tag. The 2024 model, the Galaxy S24 Ultra, also has excellent specs, and even though it’s only one generation old, you can pick it up new for $950 or used for $544. That’s less than half the price of the current model on the used market. Seriously. 

Sure, if you’re trying to sell your S24 series phone, that amount of depreciation really sucks. But if you’re looking to upgrade from an older phone, then you’ve got yourself a bargain on a high-end device. 

So what difference does one generation make? Can a 2-year-old model still perform like the current flagship? Let’s put these phones side by side and see what we get. 

On paper, the specs are very similar. They both have massive displays with identical resolutions and refresh rates. They both have potent Qualcomm processors, 12GB of RAM, 200-megapixel cameras, titanium frames, and an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance. And yes, both have the S Pen stylus stuffed inside if you want to doodle pictures while pretending to be working. The S24 Ultra’s S Pen even has several nifty tricks that were removed on the S25 Ultra’s stylus.

The upcoming Galaxy S26 lineup — including the S26 Ultra — is expected to arrive soon. Sure, it might have a complete overhaul that justifies paying its top-end price over the cheaper previous generation. But current rumors suggest that the new phone may receive only modest upgrades. 

Given that you can expect to see a sharp decrease in the price of the S25 Ultra, the same principle could apply: Save a lot of money by buying the previous generation on the used market.

From a purely numbers perspective, there’s little to choose between the S24 Ultra and S25 Ultra — certainly nothing that warrants such a steep price difference. So what are they like to use in person? Let’s start with the cameras. 

Galaxy S24 Ultra vs. S25 Ultra: cameras

Camera performance is a central way phone-makers try to upgrade their phones each year, with the latest models typically boasting better imaging skills than previous generations. 

While there are some upgrades on paper — like the S25 Ultra’s higher-resolution 50-megapixel ultrawide camera — Samsung hasn’t really altered its format that much for its last few Ultra models. 

I’ve taken many photos on both phones since they launched, and for the most part, I think you’d struggle to tell much difference, let alone pick a winner. They’re both capable of taking lovely images with wide dynamic range, accurate colors and plenty of detail. The zooms on both phones are excellent, and the night modes are superb. 

The upgrade in ultrawide resolution does give you a bit more detail, but would you really notice that on your own? It’s unlikely outside of side-by-side comparisons.

Galaxy S24 Ultra vs. S25 Ultra: processor

One of the major upgrades in the S25 Ultra over its predecessor is its processor. The S25 Ultra packs a custom version of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, versus the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip on the S24 Ultra. On our benchmark tests, there’s a noticeable difference in scores — about 25% higher in the newer chip, in fact — but I’m not sure it’s a difference you’re likely to notice in everyday use. 

I found both phones were perfectly capable of playing demanding 3D games like Genshin Impact and PUBG at max settings while still giving smooth frame rates. Editing photos in Adobe Lightroom was responsive, and navigating around the Android 16 interface felt nippy and smooth. 

So sure, the latest model might have more power. But do you really need it? A Ferrari might have more power than a Mercedes, but the Mercedes is still going to be exceptionally good for 98% of the driving you do on a weekly basis. 

Galaxy S24 Ultra vs. S25 Ultra: software

Software-wise, both phones run Android 16 with Samsung’s latest One UI 8 skin over the top. You’ll find the same features across both models, including Samsung’s various AI tools like live translation, audio eraser and drawing assist, which turns your doodles into real pictures. Then you’ve got Google’s AI tools like Gemini Live and Circle to search, which again you’ll find on both models. 

There are no new software features you’re missing out on by going with the last generation. But it’s always important to keep the software support period in mind, especially when buying used. As the more recent phone, the S25 Ultra will have an extra year of guaranteed support. At the same time, Samsung committed to seven years of support for the S24 line, so the older phone will still receive software and security updates until at least 2031. Basically, it’s still got a great life ahead of it.

Galaxy S24 Ultra vs. S25 Ultra: battery life

Both Ultras pack 5,000-mAh batteries, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, real-world battery life is pretty much the same on both phones. You can expect to easily get through a full day on a single charge and maybe even have enough power left to start a second day. In our CNET Labs 3-hour video streaming test, where we charge the phones to 100% and play a YouTube video over Wi-Fi, the Galaxy S24 Ultra actually performed noticeably better.

If you’re buying a used S24 Ultra, the battery may have aged slightly, but I wouldn’t expect it to have degraded much in just one year of use. Both phones offer 45-watt wired charging and reverse wireless charging to power another device. 

When I started writing this piece, I actually assumed that there would be more differences between the S25 Ultra and the S24 Ultra. But there’s hardly anything. They even look basically the same except the newer one has flat edges, which I don’t actually like as much. 

With battery life and camera performance being pretty much on par, and Samsung bringing all of its new AI skills to previous generations, there’s very little to choose between them. It really comes down to the newer processor, but I honestly don’t think the vast majority of people would notice the difference. The chip in the S24 is already a powerhouse. 

Galaxy S24 Ultra vs. S25 Ultra: Final thoughts

These phones are identical in so many ways, except for price. Sure, how much you actually spend on a used device will depend on the quality — cheaper ones may have the odd scuff here and there, while pristine versions will demand slightly higher prices. 

All in all, opting for last year’s model on the used market is a smart way to save a lot of money on a capable device that would otherwise be too expensive. And, with the Galaxy S26 Ultra potentially just around the corner, this whole article will still be relevant as we move into the next generation. 

The logic here isn’t limited to Samsung’s phones. With almost all companies, including Google, Apple, OnePlus and others offering hugely powerful devices with long software support periods, it’s possible you may never need to buy a brand-new phone ever again.