Today’s NYT Connections puzzle mixes pizza varieties, number types, typographical marks and clever Chinese zodiac wordplay.
NYT Connections hints for August 20
- Yellow: Think about different varieties you might see listed on a pizza menu.
- Green: Each word can be paired with “number” to create a familiar term.
- Blue: Look closely at punctuation and typographical marks with a similar visual appearance.
- Purple: The beginning of each word hides the name of an animal associated with the Chinese zodiac.
Pizza clue: Think about pizza styles or toppings. Some of these names are common menu choices, while another refers to a pizza without the traditional red tomato sauce.
Numbers clue: Put “number” after each answer. The resulting phrases are used in areas ranging from chemistry and identification to everyday communication.
Typography clue: These answers are all typographical marks or characters that share a broadly similar curved or comma-like appearance.
Zodiac clue: Do not focus on the meaning of the complete word. Instead, examine how each answer begins and look for the names of Chinese zodiac animals hidden at the start.
Today’s NYT Connections answers
Reveal the Yellow Group
Category: Kinds of pizza
Answers: DIAVOLA, HAWAIIAN, MEAT LOVERS, WHITE
All four answers refer to kinds of pizza. Diavola is associated with spicy toppings, while Hawaiian is known for its sweet-and-savory combination. Meat lovers describes a meat-heavy pizza, and white refers to pizza typically prepared without traditional tomato sauce.
Reveal the Green Group
Category: Kinds of numbers
Answers: ATOMIC, SERIAL, SOCIAL SECURITY, TELEPHONE
Each answer forms a familiar phrase when followed by “number.” There are atomic numbers in chemistry, serial numbers used to identify individual items, Social Security numbers used for identification in the United States, and telephone numbers used to reach phones and other communication services.
Reveal the Blue Group
Category: Similarly shaped typographical marks
Answers: APOSTROPHE, CEDILLA, COMMA, OKINA
The connection here is visual. Apostrophe, cedilla, comma and okina are all typographical marks or characters with a similar curved appearance. Their linguistic functions differ, which makes recognizing their shared shape more difficult.
Reveal the Purple Group
Category: Starting with Chinese zodiac animals
Answers: DRAGONFLY, OXFORD, PIGMENT, RATCHET
This group is built around the beginnings of the words. Dragonfly starts with dragon, Oxford begins with ox, pigment starts with pig, and ratchet begins with rat. Dragon, ox, pig and rat are all animals represented in the Chinese zodiac.
Today’s solving lesson: The August 20 puzzle rewards players who look beyond straightforward definitions. The pizza and number categories provide useful entry points, but the typographical group requires visual thinking and the purple category depends on spotting smaller words hidden inside larger ones. When a Connections board refuses to fall into place, checking prefixes, shapes and familiar word pairings can expose a category that initially seems unrelated.
Players can attempt the official daily puzzle and check their results on the New York Times Connections page.
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