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Spoiler-safe hints for Connections #817
Connections uses a 16-word grid and asks you to find four groups of four. You can shuffle the grid, and four incorrect guesses end the game. The puzzle refreshes daily at midnight in the player’s local time.
Yellow group hint
Think of a pleasantly sharp taste or a burst of flavor.
Green group hint
Think of being unattached, unoccupied or without ties.
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Blue group hint
These are names used for male animals; examples of the idea include drake, tom and drone.
Purple group hint
Think of ruling houses in Chinese history that came between Qin and Qing.
Rank #2
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One-word nudges
If the category clues are not enough, these representative answers point toward each group without exposing the complete grid: ZING for yellow, FREE for green, JACK for blue and SONG for purple.
Full answer for Friday, September 5
Warning: the complete solution is below. The 16-word grid was HAN, SOLO, FREE, ZING, RAM, KICK, STAG, BUCK, SINGLE, SONG, JACK, TANG, MING, PUNCH, BILLY and ZEST.
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| Color | Category | Words |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow | PIQUANCY | KICK, PUNCH, ZEST, ZING |
| Green | AVAILABLE | FREE, SINGLE, SOLO, STAG |
| Blue | MALE ANIMALS | BILLY, BUCK, JACK, RAM |
| Purple | CHINESE DYNASTIES | HAN, MING, SONG, TANG |
Why STAG is the trap
STAG can look like an obvious male-animal answer, but in this grid it belongs to AVAILABLE: a stag can mean an unattached man. The animal group instead uses BILLY, BUCK, JACK and RAM. Recognizing STAG’s second meaning is the key separation between the green and blue sets.
How the remaining groups fit
PIQUANCY
KICK, PUNCH, ZEST and ZING can all describe intensity or a lively, sharp flavor. “Zest” and “zing” are the most direct taste-and-energy terms, while “kick” and “punch” describe added force or flavor.
Rank #4
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CHINESE DYNASTIES
HAN, MING, SONG and TANG are historical Chinese dynastic names. Their shared historical use distinguishes them from the shorter words that function as everyday descriptors elsewhere in the grid.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Accessing the archived puzzle
Readers with NYT All Access or Games subscriptions may be able to replay this past Connections puzzle through the Connections archive. Subscription terms and archive availability can change, so check the current options shown by The New York Times.
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About this answer
TechRadar, Forbes and Parade published matching groupings for puzzle #817 and the September 5 date. The original NYT archive page was not directly verified here, so the solution is presented as corroborated by those dated answer guides.
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