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NYT Connections: Hints and full answers for Sunday, August 24

NYT Connections

Struggling with today’s grid? Below you’ll find gentle nudges first, then the complete solution clearly marked to avoid spoilers—plus a quick refresher on how the game works and tips to keep your streak alive.

What happened

Today’s Connections (Sunday, Aug. 24) serves up a neat mix of wordplay and category traps—classic fare for the New York Times’ daily grouping puzzle. As always, you’re sorting 16 words into four tidy sets of four, with only four mistakes to spare before your game ends.

Why it matters

Connections resets nightly at midnight and tracks your streak, so a tricky board can put pressure on your run. Knowing the category lanes—and how to avoid false overlaps—can be the difference between a clean four-for-four and a last-guess scramble.

How to play (quick refresher)

  • Group the 16 words into four related sets.

  • Each set reveals a shared theme (e.g., containers, idioms, species).

  • Difficulty rises by color from yellow → green → blue → purple.

  • You get four total mistakes. Shuffle often to see patterns.

Today’s themes (no spoilers beyond category names)

  • WINE VESSELS

  • RIPPED
  • KINDS OF SNAKES

  • ___ CALL (words that complete the phrase)

One safe starter from each group

  • WINE VESSELS: BOTTLE

  • RIPPED: CLEFT

  • KINDS OF SNAKES: CORAL

  • ___ CALL: BOOTY

Tip: If a word seems to fit two themes, set it aside and finish a different set first. Ambiguous words are often purple-level traps.

Full answers (spoilers below)

WINE VESSELS

BOTTLE, CARAFE, DECANTER, GLASS
All are standard containers or serving pieces for wine, from storage (bottle) to table service (carafe/decanter/glass).

RIPPED (synonyms/near-synonyms)

CLEFT, RENT, SPLIT, TORN
Each indicates something that’s been ripped or divided.

KINDS OF SNAKES

CORAL, GARTER, KING, RATTLE
Each forms a common snake name (coral snake, garter snake, king snake, rattlesnake).

___ CALL (common phrases)

BOOTY, CLOSE, COLD, CURTAIN
Completes familiar expressions: booty call, close call, cold call, curtain call.

What’s next

  • The puzzle refreshes at midnight (local time), so you’ll get a brand-new board tomorrow.

  • If you enjoy pattern-spotting, try NYT’s other daily games like The Mini and Strands for complementary brain warm-ups.

Editor’s note

Connections is edited by Wyna Liu, a longtime NYT puzzles editor, who has described the craft as balancing fair categories with artful misdirection—why you’ll often see words that could plausibly land in two places until the real pattern clicks.

Quick help for common pitfalls

  • Don’t lock in early on a near-match. If three words fit and you’re forcing a fourth, it’s likely the wrong set.

  • Hunt the concrete category first. Physical objects (like today’s wine gear) are usually easier to spot than idioms.

  • Save the ambiguous stuff for last. Those are often the purple set or the linchpin across two themes.

Good luck—and see you tomorrow with a fresh grid.

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