Today’s NYT Connections puzzle (#841) is a neat split between everyday objects, wordplay, and classic rock. If you’re still working the grid, start with broad patterns and save the trickier wordplay for last. When you’re ready to play or share results, the game is available on the New York Times Games site at nytimes.com/games/connections.

Today’s grid (16 words)

FLAPPER, PUNK, HOTEL, STAIRWAY, BOHEMIAN, FLOAT, HANDLE, HIPSTER, BOXER, FOOL, CHAIN, TRICK, BABA, BRIEF, PRANK, THONG

Category hints

  • Yellow: undergarment styles
  • Green: verbs for playing a joke on someone
  • Blue: hardware inside a toilet tank
  • Purple: opening words from ’70s rock song titles

Full answers (color groups)

Color Theme Words
Yellow Kinds of underwear BOXER, BRIEF, HIPSTER, THONG
Green Play a joke on FOOL, PRANK, PUNK, TRICK
Blue Parts of a toilet tank CHAIN, FLAPPER, FLOAT, HANDLE
Purple First words in ’70s rock song titles BABA, BOHEMIAN, HOTEL, STAIRWAY

How NYT Connections works

  • You get 16 words and need to sort them into four groups of four based on a shared link.
  • There’s only one correct solution. Some words are deliberate red herrings.
  • Color difficulty typically runs Yellow (easiest), Blue/Green (middle), Purple (trickiest).
  • You can miss three times; the fourth incorrect guess ends the game.
  • The puzzle refreshes daily at midnight in your local time zone. You can share your result with the emoji grid once you’re done.

If Purple didn’t fall right away, look at “BABA,” “BOHEMIAN,” “HOTEL,” and “STAIRWAY” as title openers rather than standalone words. And if Blue felt unfamiliar, think of the common components you’d see when you lift a toilet tank lid — the four here all belong together.