Spoiler warning: The answers are below. Connections puzzle #289 was the New York Times game published on March 26, 2024—not a similarly dated puzzle from another year.
Spoiler warning: This page reveals every answer to Connections puzzle #289.
The New York Times Connections puzzle numbered #289 was published on Tuesday, March 26, 2024. Its four categories are musical instruments, plant growths, bring up, and solar emanations.
Hints for Connections #289
If you are still solving, try these clues in order. They identify the categories without immediately giving away the words:
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- Yellow: Four entries are instruments that can be played to make music.
- Green: Four entries describe stages or signs of plant growth.
- Blue: Four entries can mean to raise, educate, care for, or bring someone up.
- Purple: Four entries are associated with energy or light emitted by the sun.
Connections #289 word bank
The 16 words in the March 26, 2024 puzzle were:
BASS · BASSOON · HARP · RECORDER · BLOOM · BUD · SHOOT · SPROUT · FOSTER · NURSE · RAISE · REAR · CORONA · FLARE · LIGHT · RADIATION
Answers for Connections #289
Yellow: Musical instruments
BASS · BASSOON · HARP · RECORDER
Each of these can be the name of a musical instrument. A bass may be a bass guitar or another bass instrument; a bassoon is a woodwind instrument; a harp is a stringed instrument; and a recorder is a woodwind instrument played by blowing through it.
Green: Plant growths
BLOOM · BUD · SHOOT · SPROUT
These words describe flowers or new plant growth. A bloom is a flower, while a bud is an undeveloped flower or growth point. A shoot and a sprout are both forms of new growth emerging from a plant.
Blue: Bring up
FOSTER · NURSE · RAISE · REAR
All four words can relate to bringing up or nurturing a child or young person. Parents raise or rear children. To foster can mean to care for and encourage development, while nurse can mean to nurture or help someone recover and grow—not only to provide medical care.
Purple: Solar emanations
CORONA · FLARE · LIGHT · RADIATION
This is the puzzle’s most technical group. The Sun’s corona is its outer atmosphere, and a solar flare is a powerful burst of energy from the Sun. The Sun gives off visible light as well as radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum.
Why Connections #289 was tricky
The puzzle includes several words with tempting alternative meanings:
- BASS can refer to a fish or a low vocal register, not just a musical instrument.
- RECORDER can mean a recording device or a person who records information, but here it is the instrument.
- NURSE strongly suggests a healthcare worker, although the verb can also mean to nurture or care for someone.
- CORONA and RADIATION are less everyday entries in a word-association group, which makes the purple category harder to spot until FLARE and LIGHT point toward the Sun.
A useful solving route is to begin with the concrete instrument group, then collect the obvious plant-growth terms. Once those eight words are removed, FOSTER, NURSE, RAISE, and REAR form a strong verb-and-care connection. The remaining four words reveal the solar category.
More puzzles to try
If you enjoy the daily format but want something away from a screen, NYT Games Puzzle Mania book is a hardcover collection from The New York Times Games and Joel Fagliano featuring new spins on Connections and other NYT Games. It is a companion for puzzle fans, not a book containing this specific archived puzzle #289. The hardcover edition is listed as 224 pages, with ISBN 9798893310481.
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Why the date can be confusing
Search results can surface other Connections puzzles published on March 26 in different years. This article is specifically about March 26, 2024, puzzle #289. It is not the March 26, 2025 puzzle, which was #654 and had a different word set, and it is not the March 26, 2026 puzzle either.
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Frequently Asked Questions
When was Connections puzzle #289 published?
NYT Connections #289 was published on Tuesday, March 26, 2024. The four categories were musical instruments, plant growths, bring up, and solar emanations.
What are the yellow answers for Connections #289?
The yellow group is BASS, BASSOON, HARP, and RECORDER.
What are the green answers for Connections #289?
The green group is BLOOM, BUD, SHOOT, and SPROUT.
What are the blue answers for Connections #289?
The blue group is FOSTER, NURSE, RAISE, and REAR.
What are the purple answers for Connections #289?
The purple group is CORONA, FLARE, LIGHT, and RADIATION.
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Connections #289, published March 26, 2024, answers: Musical instruments—BASS, BASSOON, HARP, RECORDER; plant growths—BLOOM, BUD, SHOOT, SPROUT; bring up—FOSTER, NURSE, RAISE, REAR; solar emanations—CORONA, FLARE, LIGHT, RADIATION.
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