NYT Connections hints and answers for Sunday, May 24 (game #1078)

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 Saturday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Saturday, May 23 (game #1077).

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.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

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 #1078) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• RATTLE
• PEN
• STAFF
• HISS
• HERB
• SHED
• ITSY
• MASK
• STRIKE
• DRUM
• STABLE
• MARCH
• RALLY
• MYA
• PICKET
• COOP

NYT Connections today (game #1078) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• YELLOW: Animal homes 
• GREEN: Work dispute reactions 
• BLUE: Ancient accessories
• PURPLE: Added belonging  

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 #1078) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: FARM FIXTURES 
• GREEN: LABOR PROTEST ACTIONS 
• BLUE: OBJECTS USED IN RITUAL PERFORMANCES 
• PURPLE: POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES PLUS A LETTER 

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #1078) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #1078, are…

• YELLOW: FARM FIXTURES COOP, PEN, SHED, STABLE
• GREEN: LABOR PROTEST ACTIONS MARCH, PICKET, RALLY, STRIKE
• BLUE: OBJECTS USED IN RITUAL PERFORMANCES DRUM, MASK, RATTLE, STAFF
• PURPLE: POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES PLUS A LETTER HERB, HISS, ITSY, MYA

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

This was one of those easy days where I saw the four groups almost straight away.

My only moment of distraction was seeing the tiles for RATTLE and DRUM and momentarily thinking that there was some kind of percussion group or a category about U2 album titles.

The mistake I made was not to pause and figure out what would be the most likely purple group. I really should have guessed ITSY, HISS and the other POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES PLUS A LETTER, because there is a long track record of “possessive” wordplay being classed as hardest to get.

“Homophones of possessive adjectives” was a purple group last month, “starting with a possessive pronoun” was purple in December, and “starting with a possessive determiner” was purple in September. Oh well, there’s always next time.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Saturday, May 23, game #1077)

• YELLOW: HAIRDOS BEEHIVE, BOUFFANT, CHIGNON, POMPADOUR
• GREEN: MORE READILY FIRST, PREFERABLY, RATHER, SOONER
• BLUE: MARVEL CHARACTERS DAREDEVIL, HAWKEYE, NIGHTCRAWLER, WOLVERINE
  PURPLE: WORDS AFTER "THE" IN "STAR WARS" MOVIE TITLES EMPIRE, FORCE, LAST, PHANTOM

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.