NYT Connections Answer: The New York Times’ daily word game, Connections, dropped its Thursday, February 18 puzzle, and it brought a strong mix of retro vibes and clever word links. As usual, players had to sort 16 words into four hidden groups. Some words felt like they clearly belonged together, while others were meant to distract you.
Like Wordle, Connections resets every day and keeps players coming back with its simple look but tricky thinking. If today’s puzzle slowed you down, here is a full and easy breakdown with hints and answers.
What Is Connections And How Do You Play?
Connections is a daily word puzzle where you see 16 words on the screen. Your goal is to place them into four groups of four words each. Every group shares one common idea or theme.
The hard part is that many words seem like they could fit in more than one group. These confusing words are placed on purpose to make you think twice.
For example, some words may sound old-fashioned, while others feel modern. Some may look like food items, while others sound like actions. You only get four wrong tries. On the fourth mistake, the game ends and the answers are shown.
Each group also has a color to show difficulty:
- Yellow is the easiest
- Green is easy
- Blue is medium
- Purple is the hardest
This mix of limits and clever word choices is what makes Connections fun and challenging at the same time.
Hints And Full Solution To NYT Connections (February 18)
Here are the hints for today’s puzzle:
- Yellow: Farrah Fawcett’s stylist’s instructions.
- Green: Old-school approval.
- Blue: Poultry characterizers.
- Purple: These words all have something very important in common.
Extra hints:
- Every group has a word containing the letter ‘E’.
- More than one group looks backwards.
One word from each group:
- Yellow: Feather
- Green: Wicked
- Blue: Crested
- Purple: Sour
Full Solution for February 18:
- Yellow (Retro Hair Directives): Crimp, Curl, Feather, Tease
- Green (Retro Slang for Cool): Bad, Fly, Rad, Wicked
- Blue (Chicken Descriptors): Bantam, Crested, Free-Range, Leghorn
- Purple (___ Cream): Heavy, Shaving, Sour, Topical
This puzzle played heavily with retro-sounding words. It was easy to think some of them belonged together when they didn’t. Words like “rad” and “crimp” felt like they shared the same old-school vibe, but the puzzle had other ideas.
The chicken group was more straightforward, while the cream group required you to think about what word could come after each one. Overall, a clever puzzle that rewarded careful thinking.


