If you searched for NYT Connections answers today May 4, you are absolutely not alone. Puzzle #1,058 dropped this Monday morning and wasted no time separating the casual word-game fans from the truly devoted. With a purple group that could stump a trivia champion and a green group that sounds more like a spa menu than a word game, this one had players reaching for hints faster than usual. Let’s break it all down.
In This Article
What Is NYT Connections (And Why Is Everyone Obsessed)?
For the uninitiated, NYT Connections is a daily word puzzle from The New York Times. Players are given 16 words arranged in a four-by-four grid and must sort them into four colour-coded groups of four. Each group shares a hidden theme. Yellow is the gentlest. Purple is the puzzle’s way of reminding you that you are, in fact, not as clever as you think.
You get four chances before the game ends and shame washes over you. Well, not shame exactly, but you get the idea. The game resets every night at midnight.
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Today’s Hints for NYT Connections May 4, Puzzle #1,058
Before we go full spoiler mode, here are some nudges to keep the solve satisfying.
- Yellow hint: Someone who would never hurt a fly
- Green hint: These are stuffed, but not with food
- Blue hint: You turn things on these things
- Purple hint: These start with names we give our dogs
The Full Answers for NYT Connections May 4
Alright, spoiler territory begins here. You have been warned.
Yellow Group: Tender-Hearted Person
The four words are marshmallow, softie, sweetheart and teddy bear. This was the warmest group of the day, both literally and figuratively. All four are terms people use for someone who is gentle, kind-hearted or just a bit too nice to survive a zombie apocalypse.
Green Group: Pellet-Filled Things
The answers here are beanie, desiccant packet, eye pillow and hacky sack. This group tripped up quite a few players, including today’s solver who initially tried to slot Etch a Sketch in here. The common thread is that all of these items are filled with small pellets or beads.
Blue Group: Things with Knobs
Control panel, etch a sketch, radio and stove made up this group. Straightforward once you spot the pattern. Everything in this group has physical dials or knobs you can physically turn, which is either comforting or an extreme reminder of how analogue the world once was.
Purple Group: Starting with Familiar Names for Kinds of Dogs
The answers are chowder, doodlebug, labubu and pitter-patter. This was the wild card. Each word begins with a familiar term used for a type of dog. Chow, Doodle, Lab and Pitter (as in a Pit Bull). Sneaky, slightly unhinged and completely on brand for a purple group.
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How Did Solvers Do Today?
The official solve order shared for today’s puzzle went green, yellow, blue and purple, with two mistakes along the way. The Etch a Sketch confusion was a common one. Many players fell into the same trap, expecting it to land in the green pellet group rather than the blue knobs group. Classic Connections misdirection.
NYT Connections Sports Edition May 4: Puzzle #587
The Athletic also dropped its Sports Edition puzzle today, and it required a very different kind of brain. Here is a quick rundown of all four answers.
- Yellow group (Fields of play, familiarly): diamond, gridiron, hardwood, rink
- Green group (Toronto pro teams): Blue Jays, Maple Leafs, Raptors, Tempo
- Blue group (Terms used in billiards): break, English, rack, scratch
- Purple group (Coached by John Calipari): Minutemen, Nets, Razorbacks, Wildcats
The green group here might catch non-Canadian sports fans off guard. Tempo is the newest Toronto team on the list, as the WNBA franchise that launched recently. The purple group requires knowing John Calipari’s coaching history across multiple teams and programs, which is the kind of trivia that separates the sports encyclopaedias from the rest of us.
Previous NYT Connections Answers This Week
Sunday, May 3 had a purple group built around gestures made with the index and middle fingers, including air quotes, bunny ears, fingers crossed and peace. Saturday’s puzzle gave us a purple group starting with newspaper names, which produced the brilliant combo of globetrotter, heraldry, post-it and times table.
A Quick Opinion to Close Things Out
The real genius of NYT Connections is that it makes you feel brilliant and thoroughly humbled within the span of about four minutes. Today’s puzzle delivered on both counts. Labubu in a purple dog-name group is the kind of answer that makes you laugh out loud, groan audibly and immediately share the puzzle result with every group chat you are in. Which is probably why this game is not going away anytime soon.
