NYT Connections hints today for #840: Clues and answers for Sunday, Sept. 28

Stumped on today's groups for the New York Times Connections word game? This one was a bit tricky to solve, so I'll share some hints (and spoilers if you want them) to help you get through Sunday's puzzle: #840. Don't feel bad for taking a peek — these puzzles are designed to confuse you.

Since we're in this together, I'll share how I did each day. I made a couple mistakes today, but quickly figured out what I did wrong each time. I figured out yellow first and purple last.

If you're new to NYT Connections, we've got some tips to help you along the way. Also, check out today's Wordle hints and answer.

How to play NYT Connections

NYT Connections is a surprisingly difficult word game and if you play, you're now considered a "connector." There are 16 words presented in a four-by-four grid and your goal is to match four words into their respective color-coded groups (yellow, green, blue, purple). Yellow is the easiest to guess while purple is the hardest.

Your job is to find out how the four words are connected to a specific group. For instance, in one recent puzzle, the blue group hint was "related to buying a home" and the words were appraisal, escrow, insurance and mortgage.

If you make a mistake when you submit, that's okay. You get four guesses before the game is over and the answers are revealed. You can also click on the lightbulb icon in the game to get some hints, but we'll also provide those here.

If you find yourself obsessed with this game after completing just one puzzle, I've got bad news for you. You can only play once a day. The timer resets each night at midnight.

Tips for playing NYT Connections

I only recently started playing Connections, but here are some tips I've found useful along the way.

1. When you get an answer wrong, pay attention to the text that appears at the top of the puzzle. "One away" means you only got one word wrong. Analyze each word to find one that might fit better in another group and try a new word.

2. If you're stuck, shuffle the board. You can shuffle as many times as you'd like to help you see some different word combinations.

3. Try to find the easy yellow group words first. Those words usually stick out because they have so much in common — they're often synonyms of one another. But be wary of the trick words that could fit into multiple categories.

4. Stumped? Come back to the puzzle later with a fresher mind. Trying to solve a difficult puzzle without "sleeping" on it might result in too many mistakes.

Today's NYT Connections hints

Check out these hints if you're having a hard time grouping them together.

I'll give you my own hints:

Yellow group: Defense

Green group: Reasons why firewalls were invented

Blue group: Chew this but don't stick it under the table

Purple group: Pro football leagues use these as their symbols

Here's one word from each group:

Yellow group hint word: Protection

Green group hint word: Virus

Blue group hint word: Orbit

Purple group hint word: Horseshoe

Okay, on to the official group names for a bigger hint. If you don't want to know what those are, then stop scrolling.

NYT Connections group names

Here are the group names for today's puzzle.

Yellow group: Backing

Green group: Malicious software

Blue group: Gum brands

Purple group: NFL team logos

Warning, spoilers ahead! If you scroll past this, the answers are right below.

Final warning! Last chance to go back and finish the game.

Today's NYT Connections answers (spoilers)

Here are the Connections groups and the words that go with them.

Yellow group: Backing (aegis, guard, protection, shield)

Green group: Malicious software (backdoor, Trojan Horse, virus, worm)

Blue group: Gum brands (Extra, Ice Breakers, Orbit, Trident)

Purple group: NFL team logos (buffalo, fleur-de-lis, horseshoe, lightning bolt)

My results today

My two mistakes today: putting trident and lightning bolt in the yellow group, and trying Trident and Trojan Horse with the purple group.

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🟩🟩🟩🟩

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Thanks for reading! Share how you did today in the comments.