Solving the daily Connections puzzle can sometimes feel like you are missing something that should be obvious. This is especially true if you find a group of words before the yellow category, which is supposed to be the easiest to find. I always feel like I must be missing something big when that’s the case, because the easiest category should be easier to find than the hardest. Luckily, with a few hints from us you can avoid that frustration and find whatever category you want first.
If you want to try out another daily puzzle game, the NYT Wordle puzzle is a very popular option. It is different than Connections in that you will be searching for words as opposed to categories, but the basic concept is quite similar in that you must use logic to deduce what letters should stay and which ones should go. Choosing the right starting word is an important key to getting these puzzles correct the first time.
Today’s Connections Category Hints
OCTOBER 20 #496
Getting a little extra hint now and then for Connections makes it a lot easier and helps when you feel frustrated. Today’s puzzle is not as complicated as past ones, but getting the right set of words together might still be difficult. There are a lot of words that look like they belong in a giant category but are actually all in separate ones. With that in mind, here are four clues for you:
- One category is about four things that can all be found in one type of media
- One category is about things that can be loud
- One category is about things you need for a specific sport
- One category is about words that sound like other words that are all defined by their job in a sentence
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If those hints were not enough, we still have much more for you to help you solve the puzzle. Next up are the category names, which could be enough for you to solve the puzzle on your own.
 | BIT OF NEWSPAPER WRITING |
 | NOISY DISTURBANCE |
 | TABLE TENNIS NEEDS |
 | HOMOPHONES OF COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS |
Today’s Connections Answers
OCTOBER 20 #496
Yellow Answers: Revealed & Explained
BIT OF NEWSPAPER WRITING | |||
|---|---|---|---|
ARTICLE | COLUMN | FEATURE | STORY |
To someone who writes for an online journalism site for a living, this category was fairly easy to spot. However, if you are not as familiar with newspaper writing, some of these may not make as much sense. However, it is the one category without any real sports terms in it, so that might help. It is funny to me that an editor working for a newspaper made this category, but perhaps they needed something they didn’t have to think much about the day they were working on this one.
Green Answers: Revealed & Explained
NOISY DISTURBANCE | |||
|---|---|---|---|
CLATTER | RACKET | ROW | RUCKUS |
If you are looking at these words they might not all be obvious in the context of the rest of the puzzle. Among words like PADDLE, NET, and OAR, RACKET and ROW could easily be mistaken for belonging somewhere else. In fact, I definitely tried putting all the paddle-like objects together in one category and was very disappointed that I was not even one away. However, after I sadly dismissed that notion, I was able to look through the options and realize that CLATTER and RUCKUS could be synonyms for two of these words with a different definition in mind.
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Blue Answers: Revealed & Explained
TABLE TENNIS NEEDS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
BALL | NET | PADDLE | TABLE |
Without being able to put the other words with PADDLE, I had to look for something different. Seeing BALL and NET I thought that it was likely I was dealing with some kind of tennis. It took me a moment to think about it, but I saw TABLE and managed to figure it out. I did so before I got the previous category, and this was actually quite helpful in finishing out the rest of the puzzle as I could dismiss OAR and FORE as belonging with the other sports words.
Purple Answers: Revealed & Explained
CATEGORY | |||
|---|---|---|---|
ANSWER | ANSWER | ANSWER | ANSWER |
Finishing off today’s puzzle, there are a lot of words that look like something else but are meant to remind you of a set of coordinating conjunctions. It’s a category type I always struggle with, particularly when some of the words have definitions that fit in with others in the puzzle. However, that is what makes it a challenging and a fun puzzle to solve, so while frustrating I was lucky enough to solve the rest of the puzzle first and could roll my eyes safely when I saw what this category was.
Other Games Like Connections
Once you have finished this puzzle, there are plenty more for you to try. This includes the Worldle game, which is a delightful way to learn new facts about other countries.
Game Name | How To Play | Is It Free To Play? |
|---|---|---|
Wordle (NYT) | Solve a random five-letter word by using color clues. Every Wordle answer can be found in our daily updated list. | Yes |
Very similar to Wordle, where players change the number of letters in the word. | Yes | |
Create a password in this ever-changing, not-so-simple game. You can find some helpful tips in our Password Game guide. | Yes | |
Name a country based only on its silhouette, and a few geographical hints. | Yes |
- Released
- June 12, 2023
- Developer(s)
- The New York Times Company
- Publisher(s)
- The New York Times Company
- ESRB
- e
- Platform(s)
- Web Browser , Mobile