Today’s Connections is a quick check on pattern-spotting more than vocabulary. One group is all about what you see on everyday objects, another is what you type without thinking, and the last two depend on noticing small visual details rather than meaning. If you want to play first, open the puzzle on The New York Times Games page before you scroll any further.
Words in today’s grid
How to think about today’s board
The fastest solve here is to stop treating everything as “words.” Several tiles point to what they represent visually in everyday life. If you catch one set early, it clears mental space and makes the remaining groups feel almost inevitable.
Hint for the yellow group
Think of something you shake in your hand during a board game. Focus on the small dots that show a value, not on spelling patterns.
Hint for the green group
This set is about what you use to form equations. If you can picture a basic math problem written on paper, you’re already there.
Hint for the blue group
Look for marks that organize sentences and dialogue. If you’ve ever edited a paragraph, you’ve used all four.
Hint for the purple group
This one is visual: imagine each character typed in lowercase. Notice which of these can be built from only straight lines.
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Tap to reveal today’s answers and explanations
Yellow Pips on a die
FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO
These are values shown on a standard die face. The clue is the dots themselves, not the number words. Once you commit to “die faces,” the set feels clean and closed.
Green Symbols used in arithmetic
DIVIDED BY, EQUALS, MINUS, PLUS
This is the everyday toolkit for basic operations and equations. The set is satisfying because each term maps to a familiar symbol you see in grade-school math.
Blue Punctuation marks
COLON, ELLIPSIS, PERIOD, QUOTATION MARK
All four are marks you use to shape a sentence: ending it, pausing it, introducing a clause, or signaling speech. The trap is that some players try to sort by “typing symbols” first, but this group is about punctuation function.
Purple Lowercase letters
I, L, T, X
The key is to picture the lowercase forms and focus on their geometry. These are the ones that can be drawn with straight strokes only, which makes them look oddly “symbol-like” compared with curvier lowercase letters.
If today felt unusually quick, you weren’t imagining it. When a board includes sets that are defined by symbols and shapes, the best move is to solve with your eyes first, then your brain.
Missed yesterday’s puzzle? Read NYT Connections Hints and Answers for Feb. 6, 2026 .
