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Today’s NYT Connections offers exciting answers and clues regarding combat sports and gym lingo.
NYT Connections brings the flair of a workout by hinting at muscle groups and exercises.
The puzzle is an entertaining mental workout for the average man and gym rats alike.
The August 6 edition of NYT Connections brings in witty wordplay, bursting surprises, and a theme that flexes its linguistic and cultural allusions.
In today’s puzzle, we find a slick mixture of straightforward groupings with some creative misdirection. While some clues sound downright obvious, others will try to make you rethink everything you ever knew. We have a boxing-related set that will catch solvers by surprise and a purple set that typifies the best in NYT-style wordplay.
NYT Connections is a daily word puzzle in The New York Times. Players see a grid of 16 seemingly unrelated words and must sort them into four groups based on some shared theme or meaning. They are then color-coded by difficulty:
Yellow: easiest
Green: medium
Blue: hard
Purple: trickiest, often involving puns or abstract associations
Players get four chances to make mistakes before the game ends. It tests logic, wordplay, and occasionally pop culture knowledge.
BAIT PIN CROSS SQUAD HOOK SPEC NEEDLE BADGE STRAP BUTTON RAG SHAMMY RIB UPPERCUT BROOCH JAB
Yellow Group – How things get fastened
These items are typically attached using a pointy fastener or clasp.
One-word hint: BUTTON
Green Group – Teasing behavior
Each word suggests some form of light mockery or taunting.
One-word hint: RIB
Blue Group – Boxing moves
These are all recognized types of punches used in boxing.
One-word hint: HOOK
Purple Group – Muscle abbreviations with "S"
Each word is a shorthand or nickname for a body muscle, often used in fitness slang, ending with an "s."
One-word hint: SPEC
Yellow Group - Attach with a pointy fastener:
BADGE, BROOCH, BUTTON, PIN
Green Group - Tease:
BAIT, NEEDLE, RAG, RIB
Blue Group - Boxing punches:
CROSS, HOOK, JAB, UPPERCUT
Purple Group - Muscle nicknames plus "s":
SHAMMY, SPEC, STRAP, SQUAD
Today’s NYT connections answers flow smoothly, starting with an easy win for those who spotted the fastening theme. The yellow group (PIN, BUTTON, BROOCH, BADGE) feels like straightforward, everyday objects that can be physically attached with a point or clasp.
Gathered around mischief, the green group holds terms such as RIB, RAG, and NEEDLE, all referring to those little provocations. BAIT blends well into this theme, though one may hastily consider it a fishing term instead.
Boxing fans likely found the blue group simple, featuring familiar punches like HOOK, CROSS, JAB, and UPPERCUT. The surprise here lies in its color; despite being placed in the tougher blue category, these words are relatively easy to group.
The purple group is where the real challenge kicks in. Words like SPEC (pectorals), SHAMMY (hamstrings), SQUAD (quads), and STRAP (traps) disguise themselves well under slang. Without recognizing the muscle reference, it’s easy to assume unrelated connections.
Unlike the usual puzzles, the puzzle on August 6 caters to fitness enthusiasts. The purple category will thus be appreciated mainly by gym rats, even if the blue punches present a challenge.
On the whole, traps were avoided. While some words make for good overlap, RAG and SHAMMY might misdirect one into thinking of cleaning supplies, or BAIT and HOOK might share a fishing theme; such subtle redirects keep NYT Connections fresh and challenging.
This one was nicely balanced between accessible and innovative, with a very smooth progression through the tiers. With every puzzle played, the NYT Connections puzzle game keeps promoting the richness and flexibility of language through one connection at a time.
