The Connections puzzle for Feb. 14 has one of those very tricky purple categories.

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Today’s Connections puzzle has a couple really loopy categories, I thought. The theme for the yellow category is one of those words that’s really slipped out of usage, and the purple group is one of those “sounds like…” categories. 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. And 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

Hints for today’s Connections groups

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: Coddle or spoil

Green group hint: They make an unsettling noise

Blue group hint: Sneaking up on someone

Purple group hint: Splish-splash

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Mollycoddle

Green group: Things a rattlesnake does

Blue group: Words said to an unsuspecting person

Purple group: Homophones of bodies of water

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

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is mollycoddle. The four answers are baby, humor, indulge and pamper.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is things a rattlesnake does. The four answers are hiss, rattle, shed and slither.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is words said to an unsuspecting person. The four answers are boo, gotcha, guess who and surprise.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is homophones of bodies of water. The four answers are bae, creek, see and straight.

Quick tips for Connections

#1: Say the clue words out loud, pausing before and after each. That helps you hear the words in the context of a phrase. The Connections editors love to group words together that are used in similar phrasing, like ____ Up.

#2: Don’t go for the obvious grouping. These editors are smart. Once, they offered SPONGE, BOB, SQUARE and PANTS in the same puzzle. None of those words were in the same category. If you like, hit the “shuffle” button to give yourself a different perspective on the words.

#3: Break down any compound words and look for similarities. “Rushmore” was once in a puzzle where the connection was that each word started with the name of a rock band.