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.
NYT Connections today (game #501) – today’s words
Today’s NYT Connections words are…
- ADIEU
- FORTUNE TELLER
- SLATE
- CRANE
- AUDIO
- TEMPS
- AIRPLANE
- GAMES
- PROGRAM
- NEWS
- FAN
- PAIN
- COOKING
- SCHEDULE
- BELLE
- BILL
NYT Connections today (game #501) – hint #1 – group hints
What are some clues for today’s NYT Connections groups?
- Yellow: Run of shows
- Green: Look inside
- Blue: Fold don’t twist
- Purple: Qu’est-ce que c’est?
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 #501) – hint #2 – group answers
What are the answers for today’s NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: LINEUP
- GREEN: NYT OFFERINGS
- BLUE: THINGS MADE BY FOLDING PAPER
- PURPLE: FRENCH WORDS
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #501) – the answers
The answers to today’s Connections, game #501, are…
- YELLOW: LINEUP BILL, PROGRAM, SCHEDULE, SLATE
- GREEN: NYT OFFERINGS AUDIO, COOKING, GAMES, NEWS
- BLUE: THINGS MADE BY FOLDING PAPER AIRPLANE, CRANE, FAN, FORTUNE TELLER
- PURPLE: FRENCH WORDS ADIEU, BELLE, PAIN, TEMPS
- My rating: Moderate
- My score: 2 mistakes
I wonder how many Connections players also play Wordle? I’d guess that the crossover is pretty high – in fact, I’d wager that almost everyone who plays this game also tries to solve that one each day too. And with that in mind, I wonder how many made the mistake that I did today and played four Wordle start words as a group.
It’s hardly surprising that people would be thrown off the scent here. ADIEU, CRANE, SLATE and AUDIO absolutely make sense as a group, because they are the two most popular start words and the two best (according to WordleBot, the NYT’s in-game helper tool). But no, this was some classic NYT misdirection. Instead, SLATE went with BILL, PROGRAM and SCHEDULE to make LINEUP, the easiest group, while AUDIO went with COOKING, GAMES and NEWS to make NYT OFFERINGS (green). At least that one was still NYT-related, eh?
With those out of the way it was all a lot easier, and I spotted the French words group of ADIEU, BELLE, PAIN and TEMPS to complete the set without the need to solve blue. That one was THINGS MADE BY FOLDING PAPER, which I honestly don’t think I would have got on my own.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday’s NYT Connections answers (Wednesday, 23 October, game #500)
- YELLOW: YELLOW ___ CAB, JACKET, JOURNALISM, PAGES
- GREEN: GREEN ___ BERET, GOBLIN, SALAD, THUMB
- BLUE: BLUE ___ JAY, JEANS, MOON, WHALE
- PURPLE: PURPLE ___ HAZE, HEART, PROSE, RAIN
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.
