NYT Connections today — my hints and answers for Thursday, January 30 (game #599)

Good morning! Let’s play Connections, the NYT’s clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need clues.

What should you do once you’ve finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I’ve also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc’s Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #599) – today’s words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today’s NYT Connections words are…

HALO
RIGATONI
AIR
WINGS
ROMEO
HARP
DIP
DWELL
PIZZA
PARISH
LINGER
VIBE
BERNIE
AURA
BEER
INSIST

NYT Connections today (game #599) – hint #1 – group hints

What are some clues for today’s NYT Connections groups?

GREEN: Watch party snacks 
YELLOW: Charisma
BLUE: Annoyingly persistent
PURPLE: Look for Euro cities 

Need more clues?

We’re firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today’s NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #599) – hint #2 – group answers

What are the answers for today’s NYT Connections groups?

GREEN: GAME DAY FARE 
YELLOW: INTANGIBLE QUALITY 
BLUE: KEEP GOING ON ABOUT, WITH “ON” 
PURPLE: STARTING WITH EUROPEAN CAPITALS 

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #599) – the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today’s Connections, game #599, are…

GREEN: GAME DAY FARE BEER, DIP, PIZZA, WINGS
YELLOW: INTANGIBLE QUALITY AIR, AURA, HALO, VIBE
BLUE: KEEP GOING ON ABOUT, WITH “ON” DWELL, HARP, INSIST, LINGER
PURPLE: STARTING WITH EUROPEAN CAPITALS BERNIE, PARISH, RIGATONI, ROMEO

My rating: Hard
My score: 2 mistakes

Today’s random set of words remained random for quite a while, until I slowly made sense of it.

I fell for the very obvious trap, convincing myself that we were looking for angelic accoutrements – WINGS, HALO, HARP – before abandoning this quest after linking BEER, DIP and PIZZA with snack food essentials.

If a group has anything to do with food then I’ll get it, but the second I’m required to apply some actual general knowledge I flounder and this was the case today with STARTING WITH EUROPEAN CAPITALS; Paris and Rome I should have seen, but Riga, the capital of Latvia, was a stretch. And full disclosure I thought the capital of Switzerland was Zurich, not Bern.

How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Yesterday’s NYT Connections answers (Wednesday, 29 January, game #598)

YELLOW: OWNED BORE, HAD, HELD, POSSESSED
GREEN: THINGS YOU MIGHT DO IN YOUR SLEEP DREAM, DROOL, SNORE, TALK
BLUE: MOVIE SERIES WITH 2024 RELEASES ALIEN, GLADIATOR, VENOM, WICKED
PURPLE: ____ HOUSE FULL, GINGERBREAD, HAUNTED, WHITE

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don’t technically need to solve the final one, as you’ll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What’s more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It’s a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It’s playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.