Youll see a game board with 16 tiles, each with one word or phrase.

Your job is to select a group of four tiles that have something in common.

Select four items and hit the Submit button.

If you guessed correctly, the category and color will be revealed.

(Yellow is easiest, followed by green, then blue, then purple.)

If your guess was incorrect, youll get a chance to take another crack.

You win when youve correctly identified all four groups.

But if you make four mistakes before you finish, the game ends and the answers are revealed.

Expect to see overlapping groups.

So dont hit submit until youve confirmed that your group of four containsonlythose four things.

If youre stuck, another strategy is to look at the words that seem to havenoconnection to the others.

Another way to win when youre stuck is, obviously, to read a few helpful hints.

Below, Ill give you some oblique hints at todays Connections answers.

And further down the page, Ill reveal the themes and the answers.

Scroll slowly and take just the hints you need!

Does todays Connections game require any special knowledge?

IBEX is awild goat.

LYNX is a relative of the bobcat.

Green category - Some lesser-known wildlife live here.

Blue category - This theme is, shall I say, dark.

Purple category - You just have to take it day by day.

Does todays Connections game involve any wordplay?

The purple group involves a fill-in-the-blank theme.

Ready to hear the answers?

Keep scrolling if you want a little more help.

BEWARE: Spoilers and answers follow for todays Connections puzzle!

Ready to learn the answers to todays Connections puzzle?

I give them all away below.

What are the yellow words in todays Connections?

The yellow grouping is considered to be the most straightforward.

What are the green words in todays Connections?

The green grouping is supposed to be the second-easiest.

What are the blue words in todays Connections?

The blue grouping is the second-hardest.

What are the purple words in todays Connections?

The purple grouping is considered to be the hardest.

How I solved todays Connections

Look, Im a whiz at word games.

I have a 99% win rate on Wordle and Im not afraid of a Sunday crossword.

But it turns out that I amnot greatat Connections…at least not yet.

So we will learn together, okay?

Black felt out of place there (shades of black, including BLACK?

), so I jotted these down on scratch paper and kept going.

I realized that FOX, though less unusual also fit the theme.

JET, RUN, BOUNCE, and BOOK could all describe ways of speedily leaving an unpleasant situation.

But then whats up with FAT and CYBER and SPLIT?

When I thought of cyber Monday I remembered there was also a black Monday.

ASH could then be…Wednesday?

Which means BLACK is more likely to be BLACK Friday.