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Today's NYT Connections hints and answers — Wednesday, February 14, #248

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Need help with Connections #248? Here are some hints and the answers

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Looking for today's Connections answers? The Connections answers on February 14 for puzzle #248 present the same level of difficulty as yesterday, with the Connections Companion rating this puzzle's difficulty at 2.7 out of 5.

Every day, we update this article with Connections hints and tips to help you find all 4 of today's answers. And if the hints aren't enough, you'll find all 4 answers below, with the category titles and the correlating words. Plus, we're including a reflection on yesterday's puzzle, #247, in case you're reading this in a different time zone.

Spoilers lie ahead for Connections #248. Only read on if you want to know today's Connections answers.  

Alternatively, visit our how to play NYT Connections guide for tips on how to solve the puzzle without our help.

Today's Connections answer — hints to help you solve it

Unlike our guide to today's Wordle answer, where we recommend the best Wordle start words as your strategy, solving Connections relies on identifying connecting categories among 16 words. Each category's difficulty level is represented by a color; yellow is the easiest grouping, and purple is the most challenging. Once you've made 4 mistakes in your guesses, the answers will be revealed, so hints can be helpful.

If you need hints to solve the groupings, then here are the themes of each, based on the order of difficulty:

  • 🟨 Yellow: Delicate
  • 🟩 Green: Math class favorites
  • 🟦 Blue: Chopsticks preferred
  • 🟪 Purple: Not the grizzly kind

These hints should get you at least some of the way towards finding today's Connections answers. If not, then you can read on for bigger clues; or, if you just want to know the answer, then scroll down further.

Alright then, here's a larger hint: It might be Valentine's Day, but don't be fooled into thinking kiss and hug belong together here. Instead, today's Connections require a light touch, and a trip to your favorite Chinese restaurant.

Today's Connections answers

So, what are today's Connections answers for game #248?

Drumroll, please...

  • 🟨 Touch lightly: Brush, Graze, Kiss, Skim
  • 🟩 Kinds of numbers: Odd, Perfect, Prime, Whole
  • 🟦 Sauces in Chinese cuisine: Oyster, Plum, Soy, XO
  • 🟪 Bear ______: Claw, Fruit, Hug, Witness

It's Valentines Day and love is in the air, which can only explain why my first though was to combine Kiss, Hug, and XO as a potential match for ways in which one might sign off messages to our beloved.

But after failing to find a fourth expression of love that would complete the set, I figured my matchmaking was off on this occasion. Forget red roses, it seemed Kiss was a red herring, as I soon realised that it would be better placed with synonyms Graze, Brush, and Skim.

Yellow category complete, it didn't take me long to find what connected the blue category, though I did lose a life. Oyster, Soy, Plum, and Fruit comprised my initial submission for sauces, but on discovering that I was one away, realised that those in question were specifically Chinese. The rich umami flavor of XO sauce proved a more suitable fit, replacing fruit. 

Math has never been a strong suit of mine, but the mind has a peculiar and cruel knack of not letting you forget certain parts of life you tended to struggle with at school. And so, with memories of a flustered math teacher repeating futile instructions to me, the words Prime, Odd, Perfect, and Whole finally prompted a lightbulb moment in my head. He'd be so proud.

That left Claw, Fruit, Hug, and Witness, which are, I finally figured out after a moment's pause, all words that can follow the word bear. Game complete with only one loss, a roaring success!

Yesterday's Connections answers

Reading this in a later time zone? Here are the Connections answers for game #247, which had a difficulty rating of 2.7 out of 5, according to the Connections Companion.

Today's Connections puzzle is not one to be tackled on an empty stomach. Bananas, Egg, Meatball, Mozzarella... it all reads like items being ticked off at the grocery store.

And on that subject, it appeared that one category might be exactly that. Dairy, Frozen, Fish, and Produce could all be aisles at our local store. I duly submitted my selection, only to find I was one away. Hmm, clean up on aisle three!

As I often do, I parked that line of thinking in the hope of finding a result elsewhere, and I was duly encouraged when I spotted what connected Spur, Urge, and Goad. That Egg from earlier is not to be eaten, but to form a common phrase with the word "on". Yellow category complete. 

  • 🟨 Encourage with "on": Egg, Goad, Spur, Urge
  • 🟩 Spherical foods: Jawbreaker, Meatball, Mozzarella, Orange
  • 🟦 Grocery store aisles: Dairy, Frozen, Produce, Snack
  • 🟪 Go _______: Bananas, Figure, Fish, Steady

Looking again at Fish and Mozzarella made me consider whether food sticks could be a theme, but deciding that banana or dairy sticks don't exist in any sane society, I told myself to go figure. And I did exactly that, linking the word go not only to Figure but also Bananas, Fish, and Steady for the tricky purple category.

With Fish re-allocated elsewhere, it was time to return to my grocery store theme, this time placing Snack alongside Dairy, Frozen, and Produce to finally get the right combination. 

That left Mozzarella, Orange, Jawbreaker, and Meatball. We are of course listing spherical foods, to complete today's game with only one incorrect effort. I think it's only fair I reward myself with a well-earned snack!

Alexis James
Alexis James

Alexis is a freelance writer and podcast producer with a Master's degree in Journalism. His love for creative technology stems from the day he was gifted his first ever digital voice recorder (a beloved Olympus WS 110), which brought with it the wonderful realisation that he'd never again have to rely on his iffy shorthand.  Alexis has over 16 years of experience crafting articles for industry-leading print and online technology publications, including Tom's Guide, Creative Bloq, and TechRadar. When he's not writing, Alexis combines his love for travel and sports, interviewing adventurers and athletes all over the world.

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