Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Hint: One of the categories in the New York Times Connections puzzle today involves a kind of ingredient I recently used while making cookies for my annual cookie swap. And another one plays off the puzzle editors’ love for wordplay, as in removing letters from famous words or names and making other words out of them. Need more hints and answers? Read on.

Read more: New NYT Connections Game for Sports Fans Lets Players Swing for the Fences

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: Like salt.

Green group hint: To not do well.

Blue group hint: Reading quickly.

Purple group hint: Singer name game.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Spices.

Green group: Perform poorly.

Blue group: Skim through, as pages.

Purple group: Pop singers minus “S.”

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 spices. The four answers are clove, mace, nutmeg and pepper.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is perform poorly. The four answers are flail, flop, flounder and tank.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is skim through, as pages. The four answers are flip, leaf, riffle and thumb.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is pop singers minus “S.” The four answers are Key, Mar, Spear and Style.