NYT ‘Connections' Hints And Answers For Thursday, May 15

Forbes

14-05-2025

Find the links between the words to win today's game of Connections.
Before we get to today's Connections hints and answers, here are Wednesday's:
Hey there, Connectors! I hope you're having a fantastic week.
Keep me in your thoughts. I'm in trouble. Yes, Fortnite has sunk its hooks into me again.
This happens for every few months. There will be a new addition or two that pulls me back in, I remember how fun the game is and I get deep into it again for a while. It was a combination of things this time around: a pair of recent emotes (a Chappell Roan 'Hot To Go' one from a couple of months ago, and a new one based on the dance for "Ratatata" by Babymetal and Electric Callboy) and the Star Wars-themed season.
I'm not a massive Star Wars fan, but the crossover is really well done. It's very cool to look up after a lightsaber or blaster battle to see a giant Death Star looking over the island. Plus it's really fun to do the 'Ratatata' dance after vanquishing an enemy team. There are a lot of reasons why Fortnite is one of the biggest games in the world, but the most important one is that it's an absolute blast.
Before we begin, we have a great little community on Discord, where we chat about NYT Connections, the rest of the NYT games and all kinds of other stuff. Everyone who has joined has been lovely. It's a fun hangout spot, and you're more than welcome to hang out with us.
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Discord is also the best way to give me any feedback about the column, especially on the rare (or not-so-rare) occasions that I mess something up. I don't look at the comments or Twitter much. You can also read my weekend editions of this column at my new newsletter, Pastimes.
Today's NYT Connections hints and answers for Thursday, May 15 are coming right up.
Connections is a free, popular New York Times daily word game. You get a new puzzle at midnight every day. You can play on the NYT's website or Games app.
You're presented with a grid of 16 words. Your task is to arrange them into four groups of four by figuring out the links between them. The groups could be things like items you can click, names for research study participants or words preceded by a body part.
There's only one solution for each puzzle, and you'll need to be careful when it comes to words that might fit into more than one category. You can shuffle the words to perhaps help you see links between them.
Each group is color coded. The yellow group is usually the easiest to figure out, blue and green fall in the middle, and the purple group is usually the most difficult one. The purple group often involves wordplay.
Select four words you think go together and press Submit. If you make a guess and you're incorrect, you'll lose a life. If you're close to having a correct group, you might see a message telling you that you're one word away from getting it right, but you'll still need to figure out which one to swap.
If you make four mistakes, it's game over. Let's make sure that doesn't happen with the help of some hints, and, if you're really struggling, today's Connections answers. As with Wordle and other similar games, it's easy to share results with your friends on social media and group chats.
If you have an NYT All Access or Games subscription, you can access the publication's Connections archive. This includes every previous game of Connections, so you can go back and play any of those that you have missed.
Aside from the first 60 games or so, you should be able to find my hints via Google if you need them! Just click here and add the date of the game for which you need clues or the answers to the search query.
Scroll slowly! Just after the hints for each of today's Connections groups, I'll reveal what the groups are without immediately telling you which words go into them.
Today's 16 words are...
And the hints for today's Connections groups are:
Need some extra help?
Be warned: we're starting to get into spoiler territory.
Today's Connections groups are...
Spoiler alert! Don't scroll any further down the page until you're ready to find out today's Connections answers.
This is your final warning!
Today's Connections answers are...
Not quite a perfect game today, but that's a 79th straight win. I'm getting closer to the fabled hundo streak. Here's how I fared:
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟨🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟨🟨🟨🟨
"Real" came to mind as soon as I saw MADRID, so the purples were easy for me today. The Real World was a long-running MTV reality show and "real deal" is an expression referring to someone or something that is very good or totally authentic.
POWDER, GROUNDS and SLUSH seemed like they could go together, but I wasn't sure about a fourth word to go with those until I saw ICE. I figured they might be references to the type of snow that skiers use. Alas, I was one away from a group there. After stepping back for a minute, I realized than CRUST might make more sense than GROUNDS, and I had the greens.
At that point, the yellows became pretty clear, so I had to submit the blues first. I vaguely recognized them as references to an opera or play. I was on the right track, at least! Those left the yellows for the win.
The blues refer to Porgy and BESS (as best I can tell), Madame BUTTERFLY, The Magic FLUTE and The Barber of SEVILLE.
That's all there is to it for today's Connections clues and answers. Be sure to check my blog tomorrow for hints and the solution for Friday's game if you need them.
P.S. I can't say I'm the biggest fan of Real Madrid. I prefer FC Barcelona (even though I enjoyed visiting Madrid more than I did Barcelona).
Still, Madrid have had incredible success and some absolutely sensational moments. The best of those, in my book, was in the 2002 Champions League final, when Zinedine Zidane scored this absolute stunner at Scotland's national football stadium, Hampden Park. Breathtaking technique on display here:
Speaking of which, one of the best days of my life occurred 15 years ago today at that same venue. I was there to see my team, Dundee United, beat Ross County 3-0 to win the Scottish Cup for only the second time in our history. For what it's worth, Harry Kane now has the same number of trophies in his career as one Garry Kenneth.
Anyway, here's a terrific song that's very popular among the United faithful:
Have a great day! Stay hydrated! Call someone you love!
Please follow my blog for more coverage of NYT Connections and other word games, and even some video game news, insights and analysis. It helps me out a lot! Sharing this column with other people who play Connections would be appreciated too. You can also read my weekend editions of this column at my new newsletter, Pastimes.