Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need clues.
What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Wordle hints and answers, Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
Marc is TechRadar’s Global Editor in Chief and has been obsessed with Wordle and its ilk for more than two years. He's authored dozens of articles on the game for TechRadar, including a daily today's Wordle answer column and a detailed analysis of the most common letters in Wordle in every position. He's also played every Wordle ever and only lost once and yes, he takes it all too seriously.
NYT Connections today (game #486) - today's words
Today's NYT Connections words are…
- SPIN
- JACKKNIFE
- BUBBLES
- PROGRESS
- BUTTERCUP
- FIZZ
- BLOSSOM
- PITCHFORK
- MOJO
- MATURE
- FOAM
- BOILERPLATE
- WITHERSPOON
- BILLBOARD
- DEVELOP
- FROTH
NYT Connections today (game #486) - hint #1 - group hints
What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?
- Yellow: As with Champagne, for instance
- Green: Get older or better
- Blue: Rolling Stone is another
- Purple: SUPERBOWL could be one more
Need more clues?
We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…
NYT Connections today (game #486) - hint #2 - group answers
What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: EFFERVESCENCE
- GREEN: BURGEON
- BLUE: MUSIC PUBLICATIONS
- PURPLE: ENDING WITH TABLEWARE
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #486) - the answers
The answers to today's Connections, game #486, are…
- YELLOW: EFFERVESCENCE BUBBLES, FIZZ, FOAM, FROTH
- GREEN: BURGEON BLOSSOM, DEVELOP, MATURE, PROGRESS
- BLUE: MUSIC PUBLICATIONS BILLBOARD, MOJO, PITCHFORK, SPIN
- PURPLE: ENDING WITH TABLEWARE BOILERPLATE, BUTTERCUP, JACKKNIFE, WITHERSPOON
- My rating: Moderate
- My score: 2 mistakes
This is not too bad, as Connections puzzles go, but it does contain some classic NYT misdirection that caused me to lose two guesses. That all concerned the purple group, the most difficult one of the four as is usually the case. It’s also usually the most interesting and cryptic of the quartet, and today was no exception; what you had to do here was find four words that all contained an item of TABLEWARE at the end. The trouble was, there were potentially five of them: BOILERPLATE, BUTTERCUP, JACKKNIFE and WITHERSPOON, which ended up being the correct answers, plus PITCHFORK.
I guessed a couple of combinations and got them wrong, then rather than risk falling at the first hurdle, decided to instead look elsewhere and return to that group. With the rather easy yellow and green groups out of the way I was left with a much easier task, realizing that PITCHFORK went with BILLBOARD, MOJO and SPIN to make MUSIC PUBLICATIONS, and thus confirming what the purple group was too.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Tuesday, 8 October, game #485)
- YELLOW: HALLOWEEN SYMBOLS BAT, PUMPKIN, SPIDER, WITCH
- GREEN: PROHIBIT BAN, BLOCK, DENY, FORBID
- BLUE: FOUND ON SHEET MUSIC ACCIDENTAL, NOTE, REST, STAFF
- PURPLE: CANDY ___ APPLE, BAR, CANE, CORN
What is NYT Connections?
NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.
On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.
It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.
It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
