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 #490) - today's words
Today's NYT Connections words are…
- CARGO
- BOULDER
- CLAW
- HAMMER
- ANVIL
- HORN
- CALIFORNIA
- COYOTE
- EGG
- STIRRUP
- DRUM
- TNT
- CAPRI
- HOOF
- HONOR
- NAIL
NYT Connections today (game #490) - hint #1 - group hints
What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?
- Yellow: Hard body part
- Green: Meep meep!
- Blue: You wear them
- Purple: blank [What a ball would do on a slope]
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 #490) - hint #2 - group answers
What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: MADE OF KERATIN
- GREEN: ROAD RUNNER CARTOON STAPLES
- BLUE: KINDS OF PANTS
- PURPLE: ___ ROLL
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #490) - the answers
The answers to today's Connections, game #490, are…
- YELLOW: MADE OF KERATIN CLAW, HOOF, HORN, NAIL
- GREEN: ROAD RUNNER CARTOON STAPLES ANVIL, BOULDER, COYOTE, TNT
- BLUE: KINDS OF PANTS CAPRI, CARGO, HAMMER, STIRRUP
- PURPLE: ___ ROLL CALIFORNIA, DRUM, EGG, HONOR
- My rating: Moderate
- My score: 1 mistake
There are days when the NYT's difficulty ratings for Connections make no sense to me. Purple today is one of the 'blank' varieties, where you have to find the missing word that unites the four answers. These are typically the hardest, and always form (as far as I know) the purple group. But there's no way that today __ ROLL was tougher than the green ROAD RUNNER CARTOON STAPLES or blue KINDS OF PANTS group.
I solved them all, but only thanks to a love of Road Runner that dates back 40-odd years. I doubt everyone will be so lucky. And I would have had no chance of solving the blue group, because I've never heard of HAMMER PANTS or STIRRUP PANTS. Am I out of touch? Quite possibly…
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Saturday, 12 October, game #489)
- YELLOW: DRAPED ACCESSORIES SCARF, SHAWL, STOLE, WRAP
- GREEN: TOLERATE BEAR, STAND, SWALLOW, TAKE
- BLUE: BIRD ONOMATOPOEIA COO, GOBBLE, HONK, HOOT
- PURPLE: STARTS OF CELL PHONE MAKERS APP, GOO, MOTOR, SAM
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.