Today’s NYT Connections Hints (and Answer) for Saturday, October 28, 2023
Today’s puzzle is cute and fun, and features a cameo from a TV character. If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Saturday, October 28, 2023, read on—I’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solutions to...
Hollif
Today’s puzzle is cute and fun, and features a cameo from a TV character. If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Saturday, October 28, 2023, 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 October 28, NYT Connections #139! 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!
Does today’s Connections game require any special knowledge?
Just one TV character who you’ve probably heard of, even if you didn’t watch the show.
Hints for the themes in today’s Connections puzzle
Here are some spoiler-free hints for the groupings in today’s Connections:
Yellow category - Sensational!Green category - How you make an impression.Blue category - This!Purple category - Look up in the night sky.Does today’s Connections game involve any wordplay?
Just a fill-in-the-blank for the purple category.
Ready to hear the answers? Keep scrolling if you want a little more help.
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.)
What are the ambiguous words in today’s Connections?
The oldest meaning of DITTO is “that thing I just said” (or that somebody else just said), from an Italian word that derives from the verb “to say.” It’s also used metaphorically to refer to a paper copy (say, a mimeograph or Xerox), and it’s the name of a Pokemon that can shapeshift to resemble other characters.SIGHT and LOOK are in different categories today. One is an ability that your body has; the other is, you know, a lewk.To HARVEST is to gather or reap food from a field. It’s also the name of the full moon that occurs in September (a traditional HARVEST time). The word is also used to refer to other types of gathering something for another purpose, as when the game commission asks you to “report your HARVEST” (tell them about a deer you killed) or a doctor HARVESTS tissue in a biopsy to send off to the lab.What are the categories in today’s Connections?
Yellow: SENSESGreen: APPEARANCEBlue: “AGREE!”Purple: ____ MOONDOUBLE 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 SENSES and the words are: SIGHT, SMELL, TASTE, TOUCH.
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 APPEARANCE and the words are: DRESS, LOOK, MANNER, STYLE.
What are the blue words in today’s Connections?
The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is “AGREE!” and the words are: DITTO, LIKEWISE, SAME, SECOND.
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 ____ MOON and the words are: BLUE, HARVEST, NEW, SAILOR.
How I solved today’s Connections
You know, the first thing I thought of when I saw SAILOR was the cartoon Sailor Moon, but I put that out of my head and started investigating the other words. Soon enough, though, I noticed HARVEST moon and BLUE moon. I’ll be darned. Put them together with NEW moon (the opposite of a full moon, when it’s all dark) and that’s a group. 🟪
A DRESS might be part of how you STYLE an outfit, but I realized they could be synonyms: your DRESS, your TASTE, your STYLE, your MANNER can all refer to the things you like to wear. That grouping was one away! so I realized TASTE must go with the other senses, and what I actually needed was a LOOK. 🟩
TOUCH, SMELL, SIGHT, and TASTE 🟨 are the next grouping, which leaves us with four ways of saying you agree: SAME, DITTO, SECOND, and LIKEWISE. 🟦
ConnectionsPuzzle #139
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟨🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟦🟦🟦🟦
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 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!
