NYT Connections Answers Today (August 22): Poker, Presidents, & Proper Nouns. Here's How To Solve

NYT Connections Answers: Fans of the New York Times’ viral puzzle Connections know the drill: sixteen words, four hidden categories, and plenty of clever traps along the way. If you’ve been racking your brain over today’s puzzle, here’s a full breakdown of the hints, themes, and final answers for Connections #802.

The Challenge Of Connections

The daily brain teaser has quickly become a favourite for puzzle lovers, often compared in popularity to Wordle. The premise is deceptively simple: sort sixteen random-looking words into four groups of four, each tied together by a shared theme. Easy in theory, frustrating in practice.

For example, words like Hook, Peter, Nana, and Wendy all clearly point to Peter Pan characters. But in most puzzles, the trick lies in spotting false trails designed to lead you astray. Players must complete the groupings without making more than three mistakes; a fourth misstep ends the round and reveals the answers.

Each category is also colour-coded by difficulty: Yellow (easiest), Green (easy), Blue (medium), and Purple (hardest).

Hints For Friday’s Connections

Struggling with today’s board? Here are the clues that were provided for August 22:

  • Yellow: They’ve held the highest office.
  • Green: Focus on the last part only.
  • Blue: You’ll need cards to play.
  • Purple: See any incomplete titles?

Additional nudges included: Two themes consist solely of names and ‘Las Vegas’ and ‘strip’ are in different groups.

The puzzle words for the day were: Las Vegas, Strip, Amy, Adams, Tom Cruise, Washington, Private Ryan, Christoph Waltz, John Malkovich, Stud, Geoffrey Rush, Ford, Omaha, Grant, Draw, Chevy Chase.

Today’s Connections Groups

For those who’d rather skip the guesswork, here are the four solutions that tie everything together:

  • Yellow (US Presidents): Adams, Ford, Grant, Washington
  • Green (Actors With Verb Last Names): Chevy Chase, Christoph Waltz, Geoffrey Rush, Tom Cruise
  • Blue (Poker Variants): Draw, Omaha, Strip, Stud
  • Purple (Proper Nouns After Gerunds In ‘90s Movies): Amy, John Malkovich, Las Vegas, Private Ryan

Whether you cracked it solo or peeked at the answers, today’s puzzle served up a balanced mix of politics, Hollywood, and poker-night vocabulary. As always, the thrill lies in spotting the trick connections before the game tricks you.

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