You open Forbes at 7 a.m., coffee in hand, staring at sixteen words that refuse to make sense. Somewhere between “FENCE” and “CURL” you start wondering if today’s puzzle is rigged against you. It isn’t. You just need the right Forbes Connections hint at the right moment, and that’s exactly what this guide gives you.
Below, you’ll find how Forbes builds its daily Connections coverage, what each hint level actually reveals, and how to use that structure to protect your streak without spoiling the fun of solving it yourself. You’ll also get a breakdown of how NYT Connections works, a few solving strategies real players swear by, and answers to the questions people ask most.
What The Forbes Connections Hint Column Actually Is
Forbes runs a daily Connections column, most often written by Kris Holt, that publishes fresh clues within an hour or two of each new puzzle going live. It’s part hint page, part recap, and part personal blog, since the writer usually opens with a quick note about their week before getting into the grid.
That personal touch is part of why so many readers come back daily. It reads less like a wiki entry and more like a friend texting you a nudge in the right direction.
Forbes isn’t the only outlet doing this. Sites including Tom’s Guide, Parade, and word.tips run near-identical daily columns, and most of them rely on the same source: the puzzle the New York Times publishes at midnight local time. What separates one from another is the format of the hints and how much they give away before you hit the actual answers.
How Forbes Structures Its Daily Connections Hints
Forbes breaks its coverage into layers, so you can stop reading the moment you’ve gotten enough help.
Layer One: The Word Grid
The column opens with the full sixteen-word grid for the day, plus a short reminder of how Connections works. This part is safe to read even if you haven’t started guessing yet.
Layer Two: Category-Level Clues
Next comes one hint per color group, ordered from yellow (easiest) to purple (hardest). These hints describe the theme without naming the words, so you get direction without a full spoiler.
Layer Three: One Word Per Group
If the category hint isn’t enough, Forbes reveals a single word from each group. That’s usually the point where most readers can finish the puzzle on their own.
Layer Four: Full Answers
Scroll to the bottom and you’ll get the complete solution: every word, sorted by color, with the official category name attached. This is the last resort for players about to lose their streak on a fourth wrong guess.
Why So Many Players Search “Forbes Connections” Every Morning
NYT Connections has become the second-most played puzzle in the Times Games app, right behind the crossword itself. Players build streaks the same way they do with Wordle, and a streak that took two months to build can end in three wrong guesses.
Searching for Connections hints today isn’t cheating in most players’ minds. It’s closer to using a dictionary during a crossword: a way to keep playing when you’re stuck instead of quitting the puzzle entirely.
There’s also a trust factor at play. Forbes carries the kind of name recognition that makes readers confident the hints will be accurate and posted early enough to matter before the next day’s puzzle drops.
How NYT Connections Actually Works
If you’re newer to the game, here’s the quick rundown. You get a grid of 16 words, phrases, or sometimes numbers. Your job is to sort them into four groups of four, where each group shares a hidden connection.
You won’t be told what the categories are. Figuring that out is the entire game. Guess wrong four times and the puzzle ends before you see the full solution.
Each group carries a color and a difficulty level:
- Yellow – usually straightforward, often simple synonyms
- Green – a step trickier, sometimes still synonym-based
- Blue – frequently built around trivia or pop culture references
- Purple – wordplay-heavy, and often the group that trips people up
Wyna Liu, the current Connections editor, has noted that the blue and green groups tend to sit in that awkward medium-difficulty zone, since they lean on trivia knowledge rather than obvious word meaning. That’s the range where a well-placed hint saves the most guesses.
Solving Tips To Try Before You Reach For A Hint
A hint works better once you’ve done some groundwork yourself. Try these first:
- Scan for the obvious group first. There’s almost always one category that jumps out. Resist guessing it immediately, since it might share words with a trickier group.
- Watch for words that fit more than one category. These are the red herrings the puzzle is built around, and purple groups love to hide inside them.
- Save purple for last. It’s the wordplay group, and it gets easier once the other three categories are locked in and those words are off the table.
- Think beyond definitions. A word like “draft” might mean a breeze, a sketch, a recruit, or a beer order. Connections leans on exactly that kind of double meaning.
- Use the color feedback. If the game tells you “one away,” don’t scrap your whole group. Swap out a single word and try again.
Forbes Compared To Other Connections Hint Sites
| Site | Hint Style | Update Speed | Extra Content |
| Forbes | Layered clues, personal blog tone | Within 1-2 hours of puzzle launch | Author commentary, Discord community |
| Tom’s Guide | Color-coded themes, difficulty rating | Same-day, frequently updated | Wordle and Spelling Bee coverage |
| Parade | Straightforward hint-then-answer format | Daily | Archive of past puzzles |
| word.tips | Flashcard-style reveal system | Daily | Wordle and Spelling Bee tie-ins |
None of these is objectively “the best.” If you want a quick answer and nothing else, a straightforward hint-then-answer page works fine. If you like a bit of personality with your morning puzzle, the Forbes format tends to land better.
What Most Hint Pages Leave Out
Most Connections hint columns stop at giving you the answer. A few things worth knowing that rarely make it into those posts:
- The Connections Bot difficulty score. The Times’ own tool rates each day’s puzzle from 1 to 5. A puzzle rated 4 or 5 is genuinely harder, not a sign you’re having an off day.
- Puzzle numbering. Connections launched on June 12, 2024, and each new puzzle gets a sequential number, so you can track exactly how long the game has been running and compare notes with friends by puzzle number instead of date.
- Weekend coverage gaps. Some columnists, Forbes included, shift weekend hints to a separate newsletter rather than the main site, so don’t panic if Saturday’s post looks thin.
- Archive access. Free players only see the current puzzle. An NYT Games or All Access subscription unlocks the full archive if you want to practice on old grids.
Frequently Asked Questions About Forbes Connections Hint
What time does the Forbes Connections hint post each day?
Forbes typically publishes its Connections column shortly after the puzzle goes live at midnight local time, with most posts appearing in the early morning U.S. hours. Exact timing shifts slightly day to day depending on the writer’s schedule.
Is the Forbes Connections hint free to read?
Yes. Forbes’ Connections coverage sits outside its paywall, so you can read the full hint column, including the complete answers, without a subscription.
Who writes the NYT Connections hints on Forbes?
Kris Holt covers most weekday Connections columns for Forbes, with other contributors, including Erik Kain, occasionally handling weekend editions.
How is Forbes different from the official NYT Connections hints?
The New York Times doesn’t publish hints for its own puzzle. Forbes and similar sites fill that gap by writing independent clue columns based on that day’s official grid.
What does “one away” mean in Connections?
It means three of the four words you selected belong to the same group, and one doesn’t. Swap out a single word rather than rebuilding the whole guess.
Can I see yesterday’s Connections answers on Forbes?
Most Forbes Connections posts link back to the previous day’s column near the top of the article, so you can check yesterday’s puzzle without hunting for it separately.
What’s a “reverse rainbow” in Connections?
It’s when you solve purple, then blue, then green, then yellow, in that exact order, without a single wrong guess. Players treat it as one of the harder personal milestones in the game.
Does Forbes cover other NYT word games too?
Some Forbes contributors also write about Wordle and other Times puzzles, though Connections tends to get the most consistent daily coverage.
Keep Your Streak Alive Without Losing The Fun
A good Connections hint gives you just enough to keep moving, not the whole answer on a silver platter. Start with the category-level clue, try the puzzle again, and only scroll to the full solution if you’re staring down a fourth wrong guess.
Forbes’ layered format makes that easy to control, and knowing the color difficulty order (yellow, green, blue, purple) will save you more guesses than any single hint. Bookmark your preferred hint source, build the habit of trying the puzzle cold first, and check back with reuterings.com for more daily word game guides and puzzle strategy breakdowns.
