Playing later and want to avoid spoilers? You can launch the daily puzzle on the official New York Times Games page at nytimes.com/games/connections. Everything below covers today’s wall (game #879) — browse carefully.
Today’s 16 words (game #879)
| FORE | FACE | FIGURE | ARROW |
| PIN | PRICE | MAST | DIAPER |
| VALUE | BOW | FINGERPRINT | DECK |
| AFT | PASSWORD | WINGS | AMOUNT |
Category hints (ordered from easiest to trickiest)
- Yellow: the total you pay
- Green: ways to unlock a device
- Blue: elements of a ship
- Purple: hallmark features of a cartoon valentine figure
Tip: there’s a tempting boat part in the grid that doesn’t belong with the ship set today.
One nudge per group
- Yellow includes: PRICE
- Green includes: PIN
- Blue includes: DECK
- Purple includes: WINGS
Today’s answers and categories
| Category | Tiles |
|---|---|
| Cost | AMOUNT, FIGURE, PRICE, VALUE |
| Ways to unlock a device | FACE, FINGERPRINT, PASSWORD, PIN |
| Parts of a ship | AFT, DECK, FORE, MAST |
| Features of a cartoon cupid | ARROW, BOW, DIAPER, WINGS |
Why these groupings fit
- Cost: AMOUNT, FIGURE, PRICE, and VALUE are all common ways to describe a total or monetary sum.
- Ways to unlock a device: FACE and FINGERPRINT cover biometric methods; PASSWORD and PIN are the classic credential pair.
- Parts of a ship: AFT (rear), FORE (front), DECK (the platform), and MAST (vertical spar) are standard nautical components.
- Features of a cartoon cupid: BOW and ARROW are the iconography, with WINGS and a DIAPER rounding out the familiar caricature you’ll see everywhere ahead of Valentine’s Day.
Common pitfall: BOW looks like it belongs with the ship set, but in this puzzle it pairs with ARROW for the cupid group. Also, “bridge” and even “monkey island” are ship areas, which is a good mental check for the blue category’s theme even if they’re not in today’s grid.
Difficulty and streak-saving approach
Testers rated today about mid-range at 2.8 out of 5. If you’re still mid-solve, clear the obvious set first (cost), then lock in the device unlock methods — that removes the longest words and reduces visual clutter before tackling the ship/cupid misdirection.
That’s game #879 wrapped. If you’re chasing a reverse rainbow, start purple next time and see how far you get before a mistake. New wall goes live at midnight local time.
