Today's NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Aug. 4, #785

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Today's NYT Connections puzzle could be tough. The blue and purple categories are pretty bizarre, although they're fun once you see the connections. Read on for clues and today's Connections answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Here are four hints for the groupings in today's Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group, to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Certain invertebrates.

Green group hint: Forest inhabitants.

Blue group hint: Involves a letter of the alphabet.

Purple group hint: Words with a similar sound.

Yellow group: Arthropods.

Green group: Trees.

Blue group: [Letter] (is) for ____

Purple group: Words that sound like two letters.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

The theme is arthropods. The four answers are aphid, beetle, mite and tick.

The theme is trees. The four answers are beech, cedar, pine and yew.

The theme is [letter] (is) for ____. The four answers are apple, cookie, effort and vendetta.

The theme is words that sound like two letters. The four answers are decay, easy, geo and ziti.