If youre looking for the Connections answer for Wednesday, April 2, 2025, read onIll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solutions to all four categories. Along the way, Ill explain the meanings of the trickier words and well learn how everything fits together. Beware, there are spoilers below for April 2, NYT Connections #661! Read on if you want some hints (and then the answer) to todays Connections game.

If you want an easy way to come back to our Connections hints every day, bookmark this page. You can also find our past hints there as well, in case you want to know what you missed in a previous puzzle.

Below, Ill give you some oblique hints at todays Connections answers. And farther down the page, Ill reveal the themes and the answers. Scroll slowly and take just the hints you need!

Credit: Connections/NYT Hints for the themes in todays Connections puzzleHere are some spoiler-free hints for the groupings in todays Connections:

Yellow category - Not planned or thought out.

Green category - Categories.

Blue category - They have the same last name.

Purple category - They can be regular words, but sometimes refer to people or places.

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.)

A heads up about the tricky partsROBIN and LARK do not refer to birds.

VENUS has a twin named Serena.

If you want to visit NICE, you better brush up on your Duolingo.

FANCY does not mean swanky. It refers to a temporary desire, as in he makes up homework assignments based on every passing FANCY.

What are the categories in todays Connections?Yellow: CAPRICE

Green: ILK

Blue: WILLIAMSES

Purple: WORDS PRONOUNCED DIFFERENTLY AS PROPER NOUNS

DOUBLE BEWARE: THE SOLUTION IS BELOWReady 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. The theme for todays yellow group is CAPRICE and the words are: FANCY, IMPULSE, LARK, WHIM.

What are the green words in todays Connections?The green grouping is supposed to be the second-easiest. The theme for todays green category is ILK and the words are: KIND, LIKE, SORT, TYPE.

What are the blue words in todays Connections?The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for todays blue category is WILLIAMSES and the words are: HANK, ROBIN, TENNESSEE, VENUS.

What are the purple words in todays Connections?The purple grouping is considered to be the hardest. The theme for todays purple category is WORDS PRONOUNCED DIFFERENTLY AS PROPER NOUNS and the words are: HERB, JOB, NICE, READING.

How I solved todays ConnectionsTENNESSEE and ROBIN make me think theres a people with the last name Williams category. Yep, HANK, the singer; and VENUS, the tennis player.

TYPE, LIKE, KIND, and SORT are all words describing a category or things with similar categories.

Next, I think WHIM, FANCY, LARK, and IMPULSE all refer to sudden or transient urges to do something, like I took that last-minute vacation on a WHIM.

What do you think so far? Post a comment. That leaves NICE, JOB, HERB, and READING. Time to go hunting for a fill-in-the-blank! HERBivore, READING pages, READING assignment, assigned READING, JOB fair, fresh HERB, HERB jar. Hmm.

NICE and READING could also be names of cities (in France and Pennsylvania, respectively), but I dont think JOB or HERB are place names.

Im stumped! Lets see. Ah, WORDS PRONOUNCED DIFFERENTLY AS PROPER NOUNS. So I was on the right track with NICE and READING, because as cities they are pronounced neese and redding. JOB probably refers to the Biblical figure (rhymes with globe) and HERB can be a first name, pronounced with an audible h.

Connections Puzzle #661 How to play ConnectionsI have a full guide to playing Connections, but heres a refresher on the rules:

First, find the Connections game either on the New York Times website or in their Games app (formerly the Crossword app). 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. Often they are all the same type of thing (for example: RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, and SNOW are all types of wet weather) but sometimes there is wordplay involved (for example, BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH are all types of lists: bucket list, guest list, and so on).

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 try again.

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.

How to win ConnectionsThe most important thing to know to win Connections is that the groupings are designed to be tricky. Expect to see overlapping groups. For example, one puzzle seemed to include six breakfast foods: BACON, EGG, PANCAKE, OMELET, WAFFLE, and CEREAL. But BACON turned out to be part of a group of painters along with CLOSE, MUNCH, and WHISTLER, and EGG was in a group of things that come by the dozen (along with JUROR, ROSE, and MONTH). So dont hit submit until youve confirmed that your group of four contains only those four things.

If youre stuck, another strategy is to look at the words that seem to have no connection to the others. If all that comes to mind when you see WHISTLER is the painting nicknamed Whistlers Mother, you might be on to something. When I solved that one, I ended up googling whether there was a painter named Close, because Close didnt fit any of the obvious themes, either.

Another way to win when youre stuck is, obviously, to read a few helpful hintswhich is why we share these pointers every day. Check back tomorrow for the next puzzle!