NYT Connections today — hints and answers for Saturday, September 14 (game #461)

NYT Connections homescreen on a phone, on a purple background
(Image credit: New York Times)

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.

Your Connections expert
Marc McLaren
Your Connections expert
Marc McLaren

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 #461) - today's words

NYT hints answers for game 461 on a purple background

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

  • LION
  • SWITCH
  • RETRO
  • BURGER
  • VINTAGE
  • SUB
  • PROM
  • SLIDER
  • SUPER
  • GRAPE
  • BUTTON
  • CALIFORNIA
  • REGION
  • KNOB
  • PRO
  • WINERY

NYT Connections today (game #461) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

  • Yellow: Read the label
  • Green: Touch this
  • Blue: They go before
  • Purple: Blank [royal title]

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 #461) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

  • YELLOW: WINE BOTTLE INFO
  • GREEN: CONSOLE INPUTS
  • BLUE: PREFIXES
  • PURPLE: ___ KING

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #461) - the answers

NYT Connections answers for game 461 on a purple background

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #461, are…

  • YELLOW: WINE BOTTLE INFO GRAPE, REGION, VINTAGE, WINERY
  • GREEN: CONSOLE INPUTS BUTTON, KNOB, SLIDER, SWITCH
  • BLUE: PREFIXES PRO, RETRO, SUB, SUPER
  • PURPLE: ___ KING BURGER, CALIFORNIA, LION, PROM

  • My rating: Easy
  • My score: 2 mistakes

Today's Connections is another fairly simple one. For starters, it doesn't require too much specialist knowledge – BUTTON, KNOB, SLIDER and SWITCH, for instance, are just generally used words. And while the WINE BOTTLE INFO group might be easier for people who drink wine, none of the answers are remotely obscure.

The one I didn't technically solve was blue – which in hindsight was one of the easiest. That group was PREFIXES, with the answers being PRO, SUB, RETRO and SUPER – all of which really should have occurred to me. But instead I focused on the [blank] king group, having spotted BURGER, LION and PROM. Trouble was, I couldn't find the fourth one, guessing SUPER and PRO (randomly) before finally going for CALIFORNIA to complete the set. I don't know what a CALIFORNIA KING is, but I solved it in the end, so who cares…

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.


Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Friday, 13 September, game #460)

  • YELLOW: VITALITY ENERGY, JUICE, LIFE, ZIP
  • GREEN: PALINDROMES FEATURING “E” LEVEL, PEP, REFER, TENET
  • BLUE: FEATURED IN “JACK AND THE BEANSTALK” BEANS, COW, GIANT, JACK
  • PURPLE: CAR MODELS BEETLE, CIVIC, FOCUS, VOLT

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.

Marc McLaren
Global Editor in Chief

Marc is TechRadar’s Global Editor in Chief, the latest in a long line of senior editorial roles he’s held in a career that started the week that Google launched (nice of them to mark the occasion). Prior to joining TR, he was UK Editor in Chief on Tom’s Guide, where he oversaw all gaming, streaming, audio, TV, entertainment, how-to and cameras coverage. He's also a former editor of the tech website Stuff and spent five years at the music magazine NME, where his duties mainly involved spoiling other people’s fun. He’s based in London, and has tested and written about phones, tablets, wearables, streaming boxes, smart home devices, Bluetooth speakers, headphones, games, TVs, cameras and pretty much every other type of gadget you can think of. An avid photographer, Marc likes nothing better than taking pictures of very small things (bugs, his daughters) or very big things (distant galaxies). He also enjoys live music, gaming, cycling, and beating Wordle (he authors the daily Wordle today page).

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