Today’s NYT Connections Hints (and Answer) for Sunday, October 1, 2023

If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Sunday, October 1, 2023, read on—I’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solutions to all four categories. Beware, there are spoilers below for October 1, NYT Connections #112! Read on if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Connections game. By the way, we’ve moved the basic “how to play” instructions to the very end of the page—just a heads up in case you’re used to scrolling down a few screens when you open this post.

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 further 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?

You’ll want to know what a POPPY looks like, and when you might see a MOTH. It would also help to know more than one use of the word BALLPARK.

Hints for the themes in today’s Connections puzzle

Here are some spoiler-free hints for the groupings in today’s Connections:

Does today’s Connections game involve any wordplay?

There’s a fill-in-the-blank for the purple category, and it’s a tougher one than usual.

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?

What are the categories in today’s Connections?

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 COFFEE COUNTER ITEMS and the words are: CUP, LID, STIRRER, STRAW.

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 NOCTURNAL ANIMALS and the words are: BAT, MOTH, OWL, WOLF.

What are the blue words in today’s Connections?

The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is THINGS THAT ARE RED and the words are: BEET, BRICK, CARDINAL, POPPY.

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 ____ FIGURE and the words are: ACTION, BALLPARK, GO (as in “go figure!”), STICK.

How I solved today’s Connections

BEET caught my eye first. It’s got to refer to beet-red, because otherwise how often do we talk about beets? POPPY and CARDINAL are clearly its brethren. (Fun fact: Church cardinals wear red because of something about the blood of Christ, and the bird was named when Europeans first saw it and were like, “oh hey, that bird dresses like a cardinal.”) Anyway, “BRICK red” is a shade of red, so that filled out my group.

CUP, LID, STIRRER, and STRAW fit together, obviously. This really feels like two overlapping mini-groups: One for a coffee cup (with STIRRER) and one for a soda cup (with STRAW). But you’d find them all together on a Starbucks counter next to the napkins, so here they are.

As much as my brain kept wanting to put BAT together with BALLPARK (and maybe STICK, as in chapitas), I decided to group it with OWL, MOTH, and WOLF, as animals. All are slightly spooky, and arguably nocturnal. Wolves are really more crepuscular, but does Wyna Liu know that? Does she think we know that? Anyway, that was a hit.

Finally, the puzzle within the puzzle: what do BALLPARK, ACTION, STICK, and GO have to do with each other? I didn’t get it, no matter how much I puzzled over the concept of a “ballpark estimate” or being “in the right ballpark.” It didn’t occur to me to phrase my estimate in terms of a ballpark figure.

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!