Final Connections Puzzle of the Week: Can You Solve it?

Here’s the final Connections puzzle of the week… and the 425th since it began more than a year ago. Give it a try, see if you can solve it, use my hints if not.

What should you do once you’ve finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I’ve also got daily Wordle hints and answers, Strands hints and answers, and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #425) – today’s words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today’s NYT Connections words are…

HORROR
CHEERLEADER
PUNK
JOCK
MIA
GOTH
WAVE
GLAM
CHAMPION
ELSEWHERE
VALUE
EXPONENT
GONE
METAL
ADVOCATE
ABSENT

NYT Connections today (game #425) – hint #1 – group hints

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

Yellow: Not here
Green: Fan
Blue: Play it loud
Purple: [Word for a surprise] blank

Need more clues?

NYT Connections today (game #425) – hint #2 – group answers

What are the answers for today’s NYT Connections groups?

YELLOW: NOT PRESENT
GREEN: SUPPORTER
BLUE: ROCK GENRES
PURPLE: SHOCK ___

NYT Connections today (game #425) – the answers

NYT Connections answers for game 425 on a purple background — (Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today’s Connections, game #425, are…

YELLOW: NOT PRESENT ABSENT, ELSEWHERE, GONE, MIA
GREEN: SUPPORTER ADVOCATE, CHAMPION, CHEERLEADER, EXPONENT
BLUE: ROCK GENRES GLAM, GOTH, METAL, PUNK
PURPLE: SHOCK ___ HORROR, JOCK, VALUE, WAVE

My rating: Easy
My score: 1 mistake

I was a little careless today, lulled into a false sense of security by completing green and yellow very quickly at the start of the game then being faced with what looked like two more easy groups. And they were – but for some reason I played [SHOCK] JOCK, VALUE, HORROR and… METAL? I have no idea why I thought SHOCK METAL was a thing, but I corrected my mistake swiftly with WAVE, and completed this Connections puzzle in no more than a couple of minutes once again. I sense a more difficult Connections game may be coming soon… surely?

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Yesterday’s NYT Connections Answers (Thursday, 8 August, Game #424)

YELLOW: SPLASHY WAYS TO ENTER A POOL BACKFLIP, BELLYFLOP, CANNONBALL, JACKKNIFE
GREEN: REITERATE ECHO, PARROT, QUOTE, REPEAT
BLUE: MAINSTAY ANCHOR, BACKBONE, CORNERSTONE, PILLAR
PURPLE: ___ RADIO HAM, PIRATE, SATELLITE, TALK

What is NYT Connections?

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.

It’s playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.