Looking for a different day?
A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing ‘today’s game’ while others are playing ‘yesterday’s’. If you’re looking for Monday’s puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Monday, October 13 (game #855).
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 Connections hints.
What should you do once you’ve finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I’ve also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc’s Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.
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 #856) – today’s words
Today’s NYT Connections words are…
- STEM
- EASEL
- ABSORB
- DIGEST
- ANTHER
- REVIEW
- CHECK
- HARK
- BRIEF
- HOLD
- STAUNCH
- LAMA
- ENGAGE
- CURB
- OUTLINE
- OCCUPY
NYT Connections today (game #856) – hint #1 – group hints
What are some clues for today’s NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: Deeply involve
- GREEN: An edited assessment
- BLUE: Bring to a stop
- PURPLE: Beasts with a missing element
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 #856) – hint #2 – group answers
What are the answers for today’s NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: CAPTIVATE
- GREEN: SUMMARY
- BLUE: HALT
- PURPLE: ANIMALS MINUS STARTING LETTER
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #856) – the answers
The answers to today’s Connections, game #856, are…
- YELLOW: CAPTIVATE ABSORB, ENGAGE, HOLD, OCCUPY
- GREEN: SUMMARY BRIEF, DIGEST, OUTLINE, REVIEW
- BLUE: HALT CHECK, CURB, STAUNCH, STEM
- PURPLE: ANIMALS MINUS STARTING LETTER ANTHER, EASEL, HARK, LAMA
- My rating: Hard
- My score: 3 mistakes
When you get two mistakes, it’s a good idea to pause and refocus. But after doing that today I ended up getting a third “one away”.
There were so many crossover words that could find themselves in several groups, that I think I can forgive myself for lumping in HOLD with CURB, STAUNCH and STEM and ABSORB with DIGEST, REVIEW and ENGAGE.
In fact the easiest group – if your brain is wired to see such things – was ANIMALS MINUS STARTING LETTER. Kudos if you saw that before picking your way through the remaining tiles.
Yesterday’s NYT Connections answers (Monday, October 13, game #855)
- YELLOW: METAPHORS FOR POTENTIALLY VOLATILE SITUATIONS CAN OF WORMS, HORNET’S NEST, MINEFIELD, PANDORA’S BOX
- GREEN: BAR EVENTS HAPPY HOUR, KARAOKE, LIVE MUSIC, TRIVIA NIGHT
- BLUE: WORDS AFTER A WELCOME DEPARTURE ABOUT TIME, FINALLY, GOOD RIDDANCE, SAYONARA
- PURPLE: ENDING WITH SYNONYMS FOR “SWINDLE” AMERICAN HUSTLE, COMIC CON, GOLDEN FLEECE, LUCKY STIFF
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.
