If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Friday, September 13, 2024, read on—I’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solutions to all four categories. Along the way, I’ll explain the meanings of the trickier words and we’ll learn how everything fits together. Beware, there are spoilers below for September 13, NYT Connections #460! Read on if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Connections game.
If you want an easy way to come back to our Connections hints every day, bookmark this page. You can also find our past hints there as well, in case you want to know what you missed in a previous puzzle.
Below, I’ll give you some oblique hints at today’s Connections answers. And farther down the page, I’ll reveal the themes and the answers. Scroll slowly and take just the hints you need!
Hints for the themes in today’s Connections puzzle
Here are some spoiler-free hints for the groupings in today’s Connections:
- Yellow category – What Red Bull gives you.
- Green category – They have a similar spelling quirk.
- Blue category – Seen in a fairy tale.
- Purple category – They get you from point A to point B.
BEWARE: Spoilers follow for today’s Connections puzzle!
We’re about to give away some of the answers. Scroll slowly if you don’t want the whole thing spoiled. (The full solution is a bit further down.)
A heads up about the tricky parts
BEETLE and JUICE don’t go together.
ZIP and JACK could mean “zero,” but they have different meanings today.
COW and BEETLE are both animals, but they don’t go together.
There’s a spelling/word structure category today.
I found quite a bit of potential overlap in categories, so before you submit a guess, look at what would be leftover to see if you’re missing anything. (Good advice for all Connections puzzles, honestly.)
What are the categories in today’s Connections?
- Yellow: VITALITY
- Green: PALINDROMES FEATURING “E”
- Blue: FEATURED IN “JACK AND THE BEANSTALK”
- Purple: CAR MODELS
DOUBLE BEWARE: THE SOLUTION IS BELOW
Ready to learn the answers to today’s Connections puzzle? I give them all away below.
What are the yellow words in today’s Connections?
The yellow grouping is considered to be the most straightforward. The theme for today’s yellow group is VITALITY and the words are: ENERGY, JUICE, LIFE, ZIP.
What are the green words in today’s Connections?
The green grouping is supposed to be the second-easiest. The theme for today’s green category is PALINDROMES FEATURING “E” and the words are: LEVEL, PEP, REFER, TENET.
What are the blue words in today’s Connections?
The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is FEATURED IN “JACK AND THE BEANSTALK” and the words are: BEANS, COW, GIANT, JACK.
What are the purple words in today’s Connections?
The purple grouping is considered to be the hardest. The theme for today’s purple category is CAR MODELS and the words are: BEETLE, CIVIC, FOCUS, VOLT.
How I solved today’s Connections
BEETLE and JUICE next to each other is cute (the new movie was fun, by the way). I also see GIANT and BEANS on the board, which seems like a nod—and potential misdirect—to Jack and the Beanstalk. I also see a few car models (FOCUS and VOLT), but I’m not sure if that’s a full category.
OK, I think PEP, ENERGY, LIFE, and ZIP could go together. I’m going to reserve VOLT and FOCUS for a car category, because I see two others to try with it: CIVIC and BEETLE. Shoot, I’m “one away” with PEP, ENERGY, LIFE, and ZIP.
I’ll try the cars first and see if that gets some stuff out of the way: CIVIC, BEETLE, FOCUS, VOLT. ?
Oh, maybe GIANT and BEANS do go together, with JACK and COW: All four are seen in Jack and the Beanstalk. ?
That means ZIP, PEP, JUICE, and ENERGY is probably my category referring to alertness. Wait, still “one away?”
Oh crap, I see now: There’s a palindrome category with PEP, LEVEL, REFER, and TENET. All four words are spelled the same backwards and forwards. ?
That leaves (for real this time) JUICE, ENERGY, ZIP, and LIFE. ?
How to play Connections
I have a full guide to playing Connections, but here’s a refresher on the rules:
First, find the Connections game either on the New York Times website or in their Games app (formerly the Crossword app). You’ll see a game board with 16 tiles, each with one word or phrase. Your job is to select a group of four tiles that have something in common. Often they are all the same type of thing (for example: RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, and SNOW are all types of wet weather) but sometimes there is wordplay involved (for example, BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH are all types of lists: bucket list, guest list, and so on).
Select four items and hit the Submit button. If you guessed correctly, the category and color will be revealed. (Yellow is easiest, followed by green, then blue, then purple.) If your guess was incorrect, you’ll get a chance to try again.
You win when you’ve correctly identified all four groups. But if you make four mistakes before you finish, the game ends and the answers are revealed.
How to win Connections
The most important thing to know to win Connections is that the groupings are designed to be tricky. Expect to see overlapping groups. For example, one puzzle seemed to include six breakfast foods: BACON, EGG, PANCAKE, OMELET, WAFFLE, and CEREAL. But BACON turned out to be part of a group of painters along with CLOSE, MUNCH, and WHISTLER, and EGG was in a group of things that come by the dozen (along with JUROR, ROSE, and MONTH). So don’t hit “submit” until you’ve confirmed that your group of four contains only those four things.
If you’re stuck, another strategy is to look at the words that seem to have no connection to the others. If all that comes to mind when you see WHISTLER is the painting nicknamed “Whistler’s Mother,” you might be on to something. When I solved that one, I ended up googling whether there was a painter named Close, because Close didn’t fit any of the obvious themes, either.
Another way to win when you’re stuck is, obviously, to read a few helpful hints–which is why we share these pointers every day. Check back tomorrow for the next puzzle!
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