NYT Connections Hints and Answers Today — Saturday, February 28, 2026 (#993)
SPOILER WARNING: Hints are first. Full NYT Connections answers are at the bottom. Scroll carefully.
Today's NYT Connections puzzle #993 is a tricky one that leans heavily on wordplay, homophones, and a sneaky astronomical twist in the purple group. Here is everything you need — hints first, then the full answers below.
Today's NYT Connections — The 16 Words
All 16 words in today's puzzle are: CRUISE DIRECTOR, DESIRE, ITCH, KNEEL, TAILOR, RUSTLE, NOVAK, URGE, ROADIE, THIRST, PILOT, SALESMAN, SUNG, EARNEST, START, and COMETH.
NYT Connections Hints Today — No Spoilers Yet
Start here if you want to solve it yourself with just a nudge in the right direction. The four category hints for today's NYT Connections are: Yearning, typically associated with hunger. Someone who pounds the pavement. Sounds like what someone might call you. Things you might see in the Milky Way.
A slightly more direct version of today's four hints: Need For Something, On The Go, Sounds Like A Name, and In Space With One Extra. If those get you unstuck — great. If not, keep reading for the full NYT Connections answers.
NYT Connections Answers Today — Full Solutions #993
⚠️ Full answers below. Last chance to look away.
The answers for the February 28 NYT Connections puzzle are as follows. The Yellow Group — Craving — is DESIRE, ITCH, THIRST, and URGE. The Green Group — Jobs That Involve Traveling — is CRUISE DIRECTOR, PILOT, ROADIE, and SALESMAN. The Blue Group — Name Homophones — is EARNEST, KNEEL, RUSTLE, and TAILOR. The Purple Group — Astronomical Terms Plus A Letter — is COMETH, NOVAK, START, and SUNG.
| Color | Category | Words |
|---|---|---|
| 🟨 Yellow | Craving | DESIRE, ITCH, THIRST, URGE |
| 🟩 Green | Jobs That Involve Traveling | CRUISE DIRECTOR, PILOT, ROADIE, SALESMAN |
| 🟦 Blue | Name Homophones | EARNEST, KNEEL, RUSTLE, TAILOR |
| 🟪 Purple | Astronomical Terms + A Letter | COMETH, NOVAK, START, SUNG |
Breaking Down the Trickiest NYT Connections Groups
The Blue group — Name Homophones — is where most players stumble today. EARNEST sounds like Ernest. KNEEL sounds like Neil. RUSTLE sounds like Russell. TAILOR sounds like Taylor. Each word is a homophone of a common first name, with zero visual clues giving it away. The wordplay is seamless and deliberately deceptive.
The Purple group is this puzzle's signature twist. Each word is an astronomical term with one extra letter added — COMET becomes COMETH, NOVA becomes NOVAK, STAR becomes START, and SUN becomes SUNG. The Purple group required starting with START rather than being drawn into the Green group by more obvious traveling job words like ROADIE. Solving Purple first unlocks the rest of the board considerably.
NYT Connections Sports Edition #523 — Hints and Answers
For players who also tackle the Sports Edition, today's puzzle #523 runs alongside the main game. The four category hints for today's Connections Sports Edition are: Yellow — Fore! Green — Take me out to the ballgame. Blue — Alma mater. Purple — Bear down. The Sports Edition resets at midnight ET just like the standard NYT Connections puzzle and is a joint production between The New York Times and The Athletic.
