NYT Connections Today – Hints and Answers for Sunday, October 13 (Game #490)
Good morning! Let’s play Connections, the NYT’s clever word game that challenges you to group answers into different categories. It can be tricky, so read on if you need pointers.
What should you do when you’re done? Of course, play some word games. I also have daily Wordle Hints and Answers, Strands Hints and Answers and Quordle Hints and Answers articles if you need help with those too.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about today’s NYT Connections is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.
NYT Connections Today (Game #490) – Today’s Words
Today’s words from NYT Connections are…
- CARGO
- BOULDER
- CLAW
- HAMMER
- ANVIL
- HORN
- CALIFORNIA
- COYOTE
- EGG
- RISE BAR
- DRUM
- TNT
- CAPRI
- HOOF
- HONOR
- NAIL
NYT Connections Today (Game #490) – Hint #1 – Group Hints
What are some pointers for current NYT Connections groups?
- Yellow: Hard body part
- Vegetable: Meep meep!
- Blue: You wear them
- Purple: empty [What a ball would do on a slope]
Need more clues?
We’re firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four themed answers are for today’s NYT Connections puzzles…
NYT Connections Today (Game #490) – Hint #2 – Group Answers
What are the answers for today’s NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: MADE FROM KERATIN
- GREEN: ROAD RUNNER CARTOON STAPLES
- BLUE: TYPES OF TROUSERS
- PURPLE: ___ ROLE
Okay, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections Today (Game #490) – The Answers
The answers to today’s Connections game, game #490, are…
- YELLOW: MADE FROM KERATIN CLAW, HOOVE, HORN, NAIL
- GREEN: ROAD RUNNER CARTOON STAPLES ANVIL, BOULDER, COYOTE, TNT
- BLUE: TYPES OF TROUSERS CAPRI, CHARGE, HAMMER, stirrup
- PURPLE: ___ ROLE CALIFORNIA, DRUM, EGG, HONOR
- My rating: Moderate
- My score: 1 mistake
There are days when the NYT difficulty levels for Connections don’t make sense to me. Nowadays, purple is one of the ’empty’ variants, where you have to find the missing word that unites the four answers. These are usually the most difficult and (as far as I know) always form the purple group. But there’s no way __ ROLL was stronger today than the green ROAD RUNNER CARTOON STAPLES or blue KINDS OF PANTS group.
I’ve solved them all, but only thanks to a love of Road Runner that goes back forty years. I doubt everyone will be so lucky. And I wouldn’t have had any chance of solving the blue group because I’ve never heard of HAMMER PANTS or STIRRUP PANTS. Am I no longer in touch? Just maybe…
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday’s NYT Connections answers (Saturday, October 12, game #489)
- YELLOW: DAPED ACCESSORIES SCARF, SCARF, STOLE, WRAP
- GREEN: TOLERATE CARRY, STAND, SWALLOW, TAKE
- BLUE: BIRDONOMATOPOEIA COO, GOBBLE, TOTER, ALLOW
- PURPLE: BEGINNING OF MOBILE PHONE MAKING APP, GOO, ENGINE, SAM
What is NYT Connections?
NYT Connections is one of the New York Times’ increasingly popular word games. It challenges you to find groups of four items that have something in common, and each group has a different level of difficulty: green is easy, yellow is a little harder, blue is often quite tough, and purple is usually very difficult.
On the plus side, you technically don’t have to solve the last question, because you can answer it by a process of elimination. Plus, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you some breathing room.
It’s a bit more complicated than something like Wordle, though, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For example, beware of homophones and other word games that can obscure the answers.
It is playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
