Looking for today's Connections answer for puzzle #441 on August 25, a little harder than yesterday's answer, this puzzle from the Connections Companion has a difficulty rating of 26 out of 5

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, #440

There are spoilers for connection #441 Only those who want to know the answer to today's connection should read on

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 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

Here's a bigger hint: Stay calm and don't bend over in today's puzzle

Now, what is the answer to the connection in today's game #441?

Drumroll, please

I started today's puzzle in the yellow category, after striking out once in the blue category, after realizing that Heating has nothing to do with Boiling or Fuming, and that maybe I shouldn't take these clues too literally I began to think that maybe we shouldn't take these hints too literally I started brainstorming some other over-the-top words to use when expressing anger, and Livid and Steaming came up

Next came the blue category, which was easy since I knew that Heating was an offshoot of these red-hot clues

Next came the purple category Baking, Laundry, and Origami were immediately obvious, but the fourth was a struggle for a while until I remembered that “poker” does not have the literal meaning of “folding”

After that, Green began to fill in the blanks by rote

Are you reading this late in the day? According to Connections Companion, the difficulty level was 24 out of 5

Finally! After a week of struggling with puzzles on difficulty 2 and continually destroying puzzles on difficulty 3, yesterday's was smooth sailing on difficulty 2 You have to win when you can

Anyway, today I started in the yellow category This was after a moment of thinking about piecing together some story, Latin, or technical terminology, but I skipped that thought

I was in the middle of putting together cheap connections in budget, steal, and thrifty when suddenly I realized I was looking at car rental companies in enterprise and national Sometimes the brain surprises you

Today's green category could easily have been yellow, but creeps, slips, steals, and tip-toes are all stealth moves

Personally, I seldom delete a letter or part of a word to find another connection So I am always relieved when I don't attack a bad connection to try to push it into another grouping

Today purple is a chemical element: Env (iron), J (argon), La (tin), P (lead)