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 loop back and try.

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?

Green category - This one really goes downhill.

Blue category - OK, now Im just thirsty.

Purple category - Music to your ears.

Does todays Connections game involve any wordplay?

There are some proper nouns, but thats about it.

Ready to hear the answers?

Keep scrolling if you want a little more help.

BEWARE: Spoilers follow for todays Connections puzzle!

Were about to give away some of the answers.

Scroll slowly if you dont want the whole thing spoiled.

(The full solution is a bit further down.)

What are the ambiguous words in todays Connections?

Here youll want to think about yet another meaning, the phenomenon whereunderground water reaches the surface.

SWIFT can mean fast, like a sprinter; or abirdthat flits about, eating bugs on the wing.

The word also doubles as the last name of asinger you may have heard of.

SOUND can mean a thing that you hear.

It can also mean whole and healthy, as in a horse that is not lame (limping).

What are the categories in todays Connections?

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

I saw DIP, DROP, FALL, and SINK.

So clearly SINK goes with the downward directions.

I submitted both successfully.

NICKS could only mean the legendary Stevie.

Alicia KEYS and Donna SUMMER must go with them.

That left four words for hale and hearty people: STRONG, FIT, HEALTHY, SOUND.