NYT Connections hints and answers today, May 20, 2026

The New York Times continues to expand the popularity of its daily puzzle lineup with NYT Connections, a game that challenges players to uncover hidden links between seemingly unrelated words. The May 20 puzzle (#1074) offers a clever mix of straightforward categories and misleading overlaps, making it moderately challenging even for experienced players. Today’s grid includes themes connected to stove settings, strength and power, music terminology and famous film titles, with the Purple category likely to trip up many players. This guide includes spoiler-free hints, the full answers and a quick explanation of how the game works.Connections is a daily word puzzle from The New York Times that tests players’ ability to identify relationships between words. The puzzle is divided into four colour-coded difficulty groups — Yellow, Green, Blue and Purple — with each level becoming progressively more difficult.Players are presented with 16 words and must sort them into four groups of four that share a common theme. These links may involve meanings, categories, phrases, structures, cultural references or wordplay, making the game deceptively tricky despite its simple format. Here are the correct groupings for today’s puzzle:Yellow – STOVE SETTINGS: HIGH, MEDIUM, OFF, SIMMERGreen – STRENGTH OR POWER: CONCENTRATION, FORCE, INTENSITY, MIGHTBlue – MUSIC TERMS: INTERVAL, KEY, MODE, SCALEPurple – ‘___ DAY’ MOVIES: GROUNDHOG, INDEPENDENCE, THE LONGEST, TRAININGUnderstand the objectiveThe game presents a grid of 16 words, and your task is to organise them into four groups of four. Each group is connected by a hidden relationship that may involve meaning, phrases, themes or wordplay.Access the puzzleA new Connections puzzle is released daily on The New York Times Games website and the NYT mobile app.Begin analysingCarefully scan all 16 words and look for the most obvious links first. Rearranging the board can help reveal hidden patterns and reduce confusion caused by overlapping themes.Submit your selectionsChoose four words that you believe belong together and submit them. The game will confirm whether your grouping is correct.Review the feedbackCorrect categories are colour-coded and locked into place. Incorrect guesses reduce your remaining attempts, so strategic elimination becomes increasingly important.Manage your mistakesPlayers have a limited number of incorrect attempts available, making careful reasoning essential when tackling the harder Blue and Purple groups.If you enjoy Connections, The New York Times also offers several other popular puzzle games: