NYT Connections hints and answers for Thursday, March 20 (game #648)

Looking for NYT Connections answers and hints? Here's all you need to know to solve today's game, plus my commentary on the puzzles.

Mar 19, 2025 - 16:12

NYT Connections hints and answers for Thursday, March 20 (game #648)

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Wednesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Wedneday, March 19 (game #647).

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #648) - today's words

NYT Connections hints for game 648 on a purple background — (Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

GENIE
BUNGEE
STRAIT
VOCAL
SHIP
EXTENSION
DIRECT
MESSAGE
LOUD
SOUND
SPINAL
CHANNEL
UMBILICAL
BAY
LIGHTNING
FRANK

NYT Connections today (game #648) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

YELLOW: Confident speaker
GREEN: Ocean geography
BLUE: Common thread rhymes with “lord”
PURPLE: Found inside

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #648) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

YELLOW: OUTSPOKEN
GREEN: BODIES OF WATER
BLUE: KINDS OF CORDS
PURPLE: THINGS IN BOTTLES

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #648) - the answers

NYT Connections answers for game 648 on a purple background — (Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #648, are…

YELLOW: OUTSPOKEN DIRECT, FRANK, LOUD, VOCAL
GREEN: BODIES OF WATER BAY, CHANNEL, SOUND, STRAIT
BLUE: KINDS OF CORDS BUNGEE, EXTENSION, SPINAL, UMBILICAL
PURPLE: THINGS IN BOTTLES GENIE, LIGHTNING, MESSAGE, SHIP

My rating: Difficult
My score: 3 mistakes

I used up three Mistakes today by convincing myself that VOCAL belonged in KINDS OF CORDS, trying every combination and getting “one away” each time before giving up and dropping it.

All part of the fun of Connections and hopefully I wasn’t the only person who fell for this trap.

This little niggle out of the way, the rest of the groups fell together easily. I might have even have gotten THINGS IN BOTTLES if I hadn’t completed OUTSPOKEN ahead of it.

How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Wednesday, 19 March, game #647)

YELLOW: SIGNIFY CONVEY, EXPRESS, MEAN, SPELL
GREEN: WEB BROWSER BUTTONS BACK, EXTENSIONS, FORWARD, REFRESH
BLUE: PARTS OF A ROAD DIVIDER, LANE, MEDIAN, SHOULDER
PURPLE: À/ A LA __ CARTE, KING, MODE, PLANCHA

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.