Today’s Connections hint and answer on 16th August for 432

It's time to take a break and get your thinking cap on to solve the Connections answer for today, 16th August, the last puzzle before the weekend starts!

If you haven't played it before, Connections challenges you to sort a group of 16 words into four groups where all of the words are well... connected. This connection could come from them sharing a similar meaning, being part of a place name, objects found in a kitchen or anything at all really!

While this may sound easy, the Connection groups each have a different level of difficulty - with Yellow being the easiest and Purple being the hardest. For this reason, working out today's Connection answer might be rather tricky. You may get one group straight away, but another might be a mystery to you. Thankfully we're here to help!

Originally developed during The New York Times game department's annual game jam, the beta version of Connections was released in June 2023. Since then it has become one of the most popular games The NYTimes has to offer, only beaten by Worlde. Though some connections have been made to the BBC's Only Connect program...

Hint for today's Connections answer

Instead of jumping straight to the answer, let's start with some hints for today's Connections puzzle:

• Yellow - When it's nothing special.
• Green - Places in the United States.
• Blue - Different styles of the same footwear.
• Purple - Things that move in the same direction.
• Ok belongs in the Yellow group, MA in Green, and Desert in Blue.

Remember - Yellow is the easiest group to find followed by Green and Blue, with Purple being the hardest set of words to connect.

Connection words for 16th August

Here's the words included in today's Connections puzzle - see if the clues above help you form a connection before we visit today's answer:

Ok	Cowboy	Desert	Sun
Hi	Tide	Yo-Yo	Ma
Fair	Go-Go	Average	Elevator
Pa	So-So	Or	Thigh-High

Connections answer for 16th August

Without further ado, here's the Connections answer for today:

• Meh - Average, Fair, Ok, So-So.
• U.S. State Abbreviations - HI, MA, OR, PA.
• Kinds of Boots - Cowboy, Desert, Go-Go, Thigh-High.
• Things That Go Up And Down - Elevator, Sun, Tide, Yo-Yo.

Today's puzzle was difficult not necessarily because the themes were complicated or too specific, but because it covered topics I personally am not familiar with. But, I still landed some points. First, the Yellow group. So-So and Average give us a good idea of a group. When trying to sort the remaining words, I had to work from a trial and error approach and we all know this doesn't work well with Connections. I eventually got the Blue group before all my tries were done.

What to play after Connections?

The obvious answer to this question is Wordle, but, if you've already solved that today, then The New York Times does offer other games. When it comes to word-based games, The NYTimes has the Mini Crossword, Spelling Bee, Letter Boxed and Strands, which is still in its beta phase. If you fancy a break from words, then you can also try Tiles - a motif matching game - or Sudoku.

Outside of The NYTimes, there's Semantle - where you have to reach the secret word by guessing its meaning. Spelling doesn't count in Semantle, instead you have to pay attention to the numerical value your guesses have to chart your path to the answer. If you'd prefer to keep to the Connections format, however, then it's worth visiting Puzzgrid. Here you'll find hundreds of Connections-style puzzles, the twist, however, is that you only have three minutes to solve them.

(You can also just watch Only Connect on BBC iPlayer...)

If you're in a reading mood, then we've discussed why The NYTimes Mini Crossword is a reliable joy and interviewed Jonathan Knight, Head of Games for The NYTimes.

Good luck solving today's Connections!