NYT Connections hints and answers for Monday, April 20 (game #1044)

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing ‘today’s game’ while others are playing ‘yesterday’s’. If you’re looking for Sunday’s puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Sunday, April 19 (game #1043).

Good morning! Let’s play Connections, the NYT’s clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

NYT Connections today (game #1044) – hint #1 – group hints

What are some clues for today’s NYT Connections groups?

YELLOW: A bunch of fumes
GREEN: Used for angling
BLUE: Linked to an infamous arachnid
PURPLE: Start the week

Need more clues?

We’re firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today’s NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #1044) – the answers

NYT Connections answers for game 1044 on a purple background — (Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today’s Connections, game #1044, are…

YELLOW: MASS OF SMOKE BILLOW, CLOUD, PLUME, PUFF
GREEN: FISHING GEAR BAIT, HOOK, NET, ROD
BLUE: ASSOCIATED WITH BLACK WIDOW SPIDERS CANNIBALISM, HOURGLASS, VENOM, WEB
PURPLE: _____ MONDAY BLUE, CYBER, MANIC, MEATLESS

My rating: Easy
My score: Perfect

A bit of music knowledge got me to my 33rd “Purple First” thanks to Blue Monday by New Order and Prince’s Manic Monday, made famous by The Bangles. CYBER I was confident about, but MEATLESS I went with purely because of the alliteration.

This actually seemed the easiest group, not that I’m complaining.

Elsewhere, nature knowledge may have helped me get ASSOCIATED WITH BLACK WIDOW SPIDERS, but I spotted the more obvious yellow and green groups first.

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don’t technically need to solve the final one, as you’ll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What’s more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It’s a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.