Looking for today's Connections answer for puzzle #421 from August 5, the Connections answer was almost identical to yesterday's toughness, with a difficulty of 2.6 out of 5 for this puzzle on Connections Companion.

We update our Connections clues and hints daily. And if the hints aren't enough, you can see all four solutions along with the category title and related words. In addition, for those of you reading this in a different time zone, I have included a reflection on yesterday's puzzle 420.

There are spoilers for connection 421. Only read this if you want to know the answer to today's connection.

Alternatively, see our NYT Connections How to Play Guide for tips on how to solve the puzzle without our help.

While today's wordle solution guide recommends the best wordle starting words as a strategy, the Connections solution depends on identifying the categories that are connected from the 16 words. The difficulty of each category is represented by a color, with yellow being the easiest grouping and purple the most difficult. Hints are helpful as the answer is displayed after four wrong guesses.

If you need a hint to help you solve the groupings, here are each theme in order of difficulty:

If you read these hints, you should at least find the answer to today's connection. If not, please continue reading for larger hints. Also, if you only want the answer, scroll down further.

There is a bigger clue. Today's puzzle is all about communication, whether it's cards, check-ins, or seeing things eye-to-eye.

Now, what is the answer to today's game #421 Connection?

Drum roll, please.

Today's puzzle was easy compared to yesterday's puzzle. I looked through the double-word first, solved the yellow category, and left.

Next was blue, which was fairly easy since Capisce has only one meaning; Understand and Get It were close together, so I plugged in See and completed the category.

Green was easy because I am old-fashioned and still like to send good old physical cards to friends and family.

And I had no idea what the purple category was today, but at that point I only had four clues left to fill in by rote. But I appreciate the play on words.

Are you reading this late in the day? According to Connections Companion, the difficulty level was 2.6 out of 5.

I first spotted the blue category because I noticed a double letter pattern in each clue.

Next was the purple category, which was easy because I grew up in a coastal area. Over the years I have heard all kinds of nicknames for the ocean.

Next was yellow, which was quickly filled when I started looking for other words that would fit Buddy.

Green then became a fill for memorization.