Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.
I thought today’s NYT Connections puzzle was pretty tricky. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.
The Times has a Connections Bot like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.
Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time
Hints for today’s Connections groups
Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.
Yellow group hint: It may convey fluids or other materials.
Green group hint: What a con artist does.
Blue group hint: Earl Grey, hot.
Purple group hint: Place for education.
Answers for today’s Connections groups
Yellow group: Conduit.
Green group: Swindle.
Blue group: Tea-making verbs.
Purple group: “School” modifiers.
Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words
What are today’s Connections answers?
The completed NYT Connections puzzle for May 17, 2026.
The yellow words in today’s Connections
The theme is conduit. The four answers are duct, line, main and pipe.
The green words in today’s Connections
The theme is swindle. The four answers are fleece, hose, squeeze and stiff.
The blue words in today’s Connections
The theme is tea-making verbs. The four answers are boil, pour, steep and strain.
The purple words in today’s Connections
The theme is “school” modifiers. The four answers are grade, grammar, high and primary.
Toughest Connections puzzles
We’ve made a note of some of the toughest Connections puzzles so far. Maybe they’ll help you see patterns in future puzzles.
#5: Included “things you can set,” such as mood, record, table and volleyball.
#4: Included “one in a dozen,” such as egg, juror, month and rose.
#3: Included “streets on screen,” such as Elm, Fear, Jump and Sesame.
#2: Included “power ___” such as nap, plant, Ranger and trip.
#1: Included “things that can run,” such as candidate, faucet, mascara and nose.
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