Today’s NYT Connections Hints and Answer for September 13 (#460)

Connections is a game from the New York Times that challenges you to find the association between words. It sounds easy, but it isn’t—Connections categories can be almost anything, and they’re usually quite specific. If you need a hand getting the answers, we’ve got you covered.

What Is Connections?

Connections is a game from the New York Times. The objective is simple: sort 16 words into groups of 4. Each group of words will be connected by some common idea or theme. That common element could be anything. We have seen everything from games that rely on the number of letters in the words to categories that require you to spot an extra letter at the end of the word. Sometimes they’re references to economics, other times they reference fairy tales. There is no telling what sort of association there will be between words.

Once you’re confident you understand the connection, select 4 words, then hit “Submit.” You have only four attempts in total, so don’t be too guess-happy.

Hints for Today’s Connections Groups

Here are a few hints for the 460th Connections game to get you started:

• Yellow: How strong something is.
• Green: The same forwards and backwards.
• Blue: Related to a popular fairy tale.
• Purple: What you might drive.

If you still need help, the actual group names are:

• Yellow: Vitality
• Green: Palindromes Featuring “E”
• Blue: Featured in “Jack and the Beanstalk.”
• Purple: Car Models

Today’s NYT Connections Answers

Vitality (Yellow):

Energy, Juice, Life, Zip

Palindromes Featuring “E” (Green):

Level, Pep, Refer, Tenet

Featured in “Jack and the Beanstalk” (Blue):

Beans, Cow, Giant, Jack

Car Models (Purple):

Beetle, Civic, Focus, Volt

How Did We Solve This Connections Game?

The 460th was the first game in a while I would have been able to solve if I couldn’t rely on eliminating all the groups except Purple.

The first group I spotted was actually Purple. Beetle, Civic, Focus, and Volt are all different types of cars. The group name was just “Car Models.”

From there, I noticed that energy, juice, and life are all energy-related terms, and zip can also be used to describe something as energetic. They were in the Yellow group, “Vitality.”

I shuffled a few times, then beans, giant, and jack wound up in a line, and I realized we were talking about things from Jack and the Beanstalk. From there, it was easy to pick out cow as the last word. Blue was “Featured in ‘Jack and the Beanstalk.'”

That left level, pep, refer, and tenet. It took me a moment, but I eventually realized that all the words were palindromes. Green was “Palindromes Featuring E.” It was a little surprising to see this sort of group in Green, since most puzzles involving the words themselves are in Purple.

How Do You Guess Connections Groups?

There is no quick, reliable way to approach Connections like there is with Wordle, since Connections isn’t algorithmic. However, there are a few things to keep in mind that can help.

1. Look for similar parts of speech. Are some words verbs and others nouns? Are some adjectives? Try mentally grouping them based on those categories and see if any other patterns jump out at you.
2. Are the words synonyms? Sometimes categories will just be synonyms for a phrase, or very close to synonyms. Don’t rely too closely on this, though. Occasionally, Connections will deliberately throw in words that are sometimes synonyms to mislead you.
3. Try saying the words. Sometimes, saying the words helps. One puzzle we saw included the words go, rate, faster, clip, pace, speed, move, commute, and hurry—all of which are obviously related to the idea of motion. However, when you say them, it becomes a little more obvious that only four (go, move, hurry, faster) are things you’d actually say to prompt someone to get moving.
4. Expect the red herring. Connections usually has words that could be plausibly, yet incorrectly, grouped together. Take the words Bud, Corona, and Light, as an example. You might instinctively see those three words together and assume they’re lumped together in a category related to beer—but they weren’t.
5. Look for distinct words. If a word on your board doesn’t have multiple meanings or can really only be used in one context, try using that word as the basis for a category.
6. Shuffle the board. Sometimes, moving words around will help you look at them in new ways.

If you didn’t solve this one, don’t feel too bad—there’s always tomorrow! And those words may align with a topic you’re interested in, giving you a leg up on the competition.