Happy Halloween, Connectors! Welcome to your daily dose of NYT Connections hints and answers. Today is Friday, October 31st, and we’re tackling puzzle #873. If you’re anything like me, you enjoy a good word game challenge to kickstart your day. This guide provides everything you need to solve today’s Connections, from subtle clues to the complete solution. We’ll also throw in a Wordle hint to help you conquer both games!
NYT Connections is a daily word game by the New York Times that you can play on the NYT’s website or Games app. The aim is to arrange 16 given words, phrases, symbols or numbers into four groups of four based on some logical category. There’s only one correct solution and there are often red herrings. You can guess incorrectly three times. A fourth wrong guess, and it’s game over.
Let’s dive in and keep our winning streaks alive!
How to Play NYT Connections
Connections presents you with a grid of 16 words (sometimes phrases, symbols or numbers). Your mission is to arrange them into four groups of four. You don’t know how they fit together or what the category for each group is: that’s what you have to figure out.
There’s only one correct solution, and often, there are red herrings. You can guess incorrectly three times. A fourth wrong guess, and it’s game over.
Each group is color-coded. The yellow group is usually the easiest to deduce, followed by blue, green, and purple. Often, the yellow and green groups have synonyms, the blues have cultural references, and the purples have some kind of wordplay involved. But this is not a hard and fast rule. Be ready for curveballs – part of the fun of Connections is in how the NYT shakes things up to keep you on your toes.
As with Wordle and similar games, it’s easy to share results with your friends using an emoji-based grid. The game tracks your progress, too.
Many players take pride in having long win streaks or getting a reverse rainbow – correctly guessing the purple, blue, green, and yellow groups in that order with no mistakes. That adds an extra little challenge.
Today’s NYT Connections Word List
Today’s 16 words (well, illustrations) are:
- Ghost
- Pumpkin
- Bow
- Bed
- Anchor
- Bear
- Mouse
- Cherry
- Chair
- Three dots followed by a large dot
- High heel
- Cap
- Pipe
- Bowl of hot food
- Can of greens
- Magic wand
NYT Connections Hints
Here are hints for today’s Connections groups:
- 🟨 Yellow group — a home invader who encountered three of each of these, and found that some were juuuuust right
- 🟩 Green group — the protagonist of a literal rags-to-riches story that paused at midnight
- 🟦 Blue group — he’s often embroiled in a love triangle and can fight to the finish because he eats… one of these
- 🟪 Purple group — the star of a classic arcade game
NYT Connections Hints – One Answer Per Group
Need some extra help?
Be warned: we’re starting to get into spoiler territory.
Let’s take a look at one answer for each group.
- 🟨 Yellow group — BED
- 🟩 Green group — WAND
- 🟦 Blue group — CAP
- 🟪 Purple group — GHOST
NYT Connections Hints – Groups/Categories
Today’s Connections groups are…
- 🟨 Yellow group — Goldilocks
- 🟩 Green group — Cinderella
- 🟦 Blue group — Popeye
- 🟪 Purple group — Ms. Pac-Man
NYT Connections Answers
Spoiler alert! Don’t scroll any further down the page until you’re ready to find out today’s Connections answers.
Today’s Connections answers are…
- 🟨 Yellow group — Goldilocks (BEAR, BED, CHAIR, PORRIDGE)
- 🟩 Green group — Cinderella (MOUSE, PUMPKIN, SLIPPER, WAND)
- 🟦 Blue group — Popeye (ANCHOR, CAP, PIPE, SPINACH)
- 🟪 Purple group — Ms. Pac-Man (BOW, CHERRIES, GHOST, PELLETS)
Solution Breakdown
Let’s break down how each word fits into each group:
Goldilocks: According to the fairy tale, Goldilocks entered the home of three bears who went for a walk in the woods while their porridge was cooling. She tried each chair and bowl of porridge before testing the beds and going to sleep in one of them. The bears had every right to be annoyed with her!
Cinderella: In the Disney version of the story, Cinderella is a high-born young woman who is forced by her widowed stepmother to become a domestic worker in her own castle. Over the years, Cinderella becomes friends with various animals, including mice.
One day, her fairy godmother arrives and uses her magic wand to turn a pumpkin into a carriage so Cinderella can attend a ball. She and Prince Charming meet and fall in love, but her spell ends at midnight and, in her haste to leave, she loses a glass slipper. Prince Charming then uses this to try to find her.
Popeye: The anchor (his tattoo), hat and pipe all relate to Popeye. And that’s not just a can of greens. It’s a can of spinach! Which he eats to make him strong!
Ms. Pac-Man: Ms. Pac-Man wears a bow and eats cherries and pellets as she moves around each level. The ghosts are her enemies, but if she consumes a larger Power Pellet, she can eat the ghosts for a limited time as well.
Wordle Hint for October 31
If you’re also tackling Wordle today, here’s a little nudge in the right direction: The word contains two vowels.
Conclusion
I found this to be a really fun game! Of course, it’s nothing but references to fictional characters, so I’m sorry if you didn’t know enough of them and lucked out. Remember to celebrate your wins, learn from your losses, and come back tomorrow for another round of brain-teasing fun! Check back with FYM News for daily hints and answers to keep your streaks going.
Have a great day! Stay hydrated! Be kind to yourself and each other! Call someone you love!
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