Honestly, some days the New York Times just wants to see us struggle. If you've opened your grid today and felt that immediate "wait, what?" sensation, you aren't alone. Today's NYT Connections hints April 27 are basically a masterclass in redirection. You've got words that look like they belong in three different places, and the purple category? It's a total headache if you don't say the words out loud.
I’ve been tracking these puzzles for a while, and the April 27 board (#686) feels like one of those mid-difficulty hurdles. It’s not impossible, but it’s definitely "one-away" bait. You see words like GOLDFISH and FISH and immediately want to click them together. Don't. That’s exactly what Wyna Liu and the editorial team want you to do.
The trick today is separating the literal meanings from the cultural associations.
NYT Connections Hints April 27: Breaking Down the Categories
Sometimes you just need a nudge. If you're looking for the vibe of the groups without getting the full answer spoiled yet, here is the breakdown of what you're dealing with today.
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- Yellow Category: Think back to middle school math. If you were staring at a handheld device before smartphones took over, you'd see these words every single day.
- Green Category: This is all about what’s on top of your head. Not just the style, but the actual amount or clump of the stuff.
- Blue Category: These are specifically brands or shapes of things you’d grab from a vending machine or a party bowl.
- Purple Category: This one is a "fill-in-the-blank." Every word in this group is preceded by the same seven-letter adjective. Specifically, an adjective describing a certain Scandinavian country.
Why Today's Grid is Tricky
The overlap today is brutal. You have GOLDFISH which is a snack, but then you have FISH which is usually an animal. However, in this specific puzzle, they are separated by their "brand" status versus a specific cultural phrase.
Then you have the hair category. LOCK and TUFT feel obvious, but SHOCK and THATCH? Those are the kind of words that make you second-guess if you actually know English or if you've just been winging it for thirty years.
The Yellow Group: Calculator Buttons
This is the easiest set, but even then, it’s easy to overlook TIMES because we use it so often as a measure of frequency rather than a mathematical operation.
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- EQUALS
- MINUS
- PERCENT
- TIMES
The Green Group: Amounts of Hair
If someone describes you as having a "thatch" of hair, they're basically saying you have a thick, messy pile of it. It’s a bit old-school, but it fits perfectly here with the others.
- LOCK
- SHOCK
- THATCH
- TUFT
The Blue Group: Salty Snack Unit
This is where the red herrings live. GOLDFISH and TAKIS are brands, while RUFFLE refers to the ridge in a chip. It’s a "unit" of snacking.
- COMBO
- GOLDFISH
- RUFFLES
- TAKI
The Purple Group: Swedish ___
This is the hardest category today. If you didn't grow up watching The Muppets or eating at IKEA, this might be a complete wash.
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- CHEF (The Swedish Chef)
- FISH (Swedish Fish candy)
- MASSAGE (A common spa service)
- MEATBALL (The iconic IKEA staple)
How to Handle Future Puzzles Like a Pro
If today’s NYT Connections hints April 27 didn't save your streak in time, don't beat yourself up. The game is designed to play on your linguistic biases. One of the best strategies, which Wyna Liu herself has mentioned in various interviews, is to find your "strongest" group of four and then not submit it.
Wait.
Look at the remaining twelve words. If one of the words you didn't pick actually fits better with your chosen four, you've just avoided a mistake. Also, always check for "parts of speech" mismatches. If you have three nouns and one verb that "sort of" fits, you're probably barking up the wrong tree.
Your Next Steps for a Perfect Streak
To keep your win rate high, start by identifying the "leftovers" first. Most people try to find the Yellow group because it's easiest, but the pros look for the Purple wordplay first. If you can spot a "fill-in-the-blank" category early, the rest of the board collapses into place much faster.
- Review the board for homophones (words that sound the same but are spelled differently).
- Group the obvious brands (like the snack foods today).
- If you get the "one away" message, change only one word at a time rather than clearing the whole selection.
- Use the "Shuffle" button. It sounds simple, but breaking the visual grid that the editors created can snap your brain out of a logic loop.
Check back tomorrow morning to see if the NYT decides to be a little kinder to our collective brain cells.