Find the links between the words to win today’s game of Connections.
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Each day’s game of NYT Connections goes live at midnight local time. Before we get to today’s NYT Connections hints and answers, here’s what you missed on Wednesday:
Hey there, Connectors! I hope you’ve had a great week so far.
One of my oldest friends had a loss in the family this week. Horrible news, and my heart goes out to him and his loved ones. I wish I could be there for him, but being an ocean away makes that more difficult. I’m glad he has his siblings and stepkid with him.
I do often worry that something will suddenly happen within my own family while I’m living so far away from them. I’d be on the next flight I could, of course. I’ve made a point of visiting at least a couple of times a year, especially given that my folks aren’t too far away from retirement. They are, thankfully, in good health. I really hope things stay that way for a long time to come.
Before we start, I want to mention the great community we have on Discord, where we chat about Connections, the rest of the NYT games and all kinds of other stuff. It’s a fun hangout spot, and you’re welcome to hang out with us.
Today’s NYT Connections hints and answers for Thursday, November 13 are coming right up. Let’s get rolling!
NYT Connections – How To Play
Connections is a free New York Times daily word game that you can play on the NYT’s website or Games app. If you have an NYT All Access or Games subscription, you can access the Connections archive, which includes every previous game.
Connections presents you with a grid of 16 words (sometimes phrases, symbols or numbers). The aim is to arrange them into four groups of four. You don’t know how they hit together or what the category for each group is: that’s what you have to figure out.
There’s only one correct solution and there are often red herrings. You can guess incorrectly three times. A fourth wrong guess, and it’s game over.
Each group is color coded. The yellow group is usually the easiest to deduce, followed by blue, green and purple. Often, the yellow and green groups have synonyms, the blues have cultural references and the purples have some kind of wordplay involved. But this is not a hard and fast rule. Be ready for curveballs – part of the fun of Connections is in how the NYT shakes things up to keep you on your toes.
As with Wordle and similar games, it’s easy to share results with your friends using an emoji-based grid. The game tracks your progress too.
Many players take pride in having long win streaks or getting a reverse rainbow – correctly guessing the purple, blue, green and yellow groups in that order with no mistakes. That adds an extra little challenge.
NYT Connections Hints – Today’s Word List
Scroll slowly! I’ll first give you a list of today’s words, then a hint for each category. After that, I’ll reveal one word that goes into each group. Then I’ll tell you the category names, followed by the full answers.
Today’s 16 words are…
- FIRE EXTINGUISHER
- AIR PURIFIER
- MICROSOFT
- CIGARETTE
- BOX
- OVAL
- THREADS
- FIT
- POST
- COFFEE MAKER
- BEER
- SHAVING CREAM
- GETUP
- SEA
- DUDS
NYT Connections Hints
And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:
- 🟨 Yellow group — you’ll need to give this some consideration if you want to look sharp
- 🟩 Green group — like bath suds and many mattress toppers
- 🟦 Blue group — like someone who holds themselves back from what they really want to say
- 🟪 Purple group — alienation, home and patent would fit in here
NYT Connections Hints – One Answer Per Group
Need some extra help?
Be warned: we’re starting to get into spoiler territory.
Let’s take a look at one answer for each group.
Here we go…
- 🟨 Yellow group — GETUP
- 🟩 Green group – BEER
- 🟦 Blue group — INSTAGRAM
- 🟪 Purple group — BOX
NYT Connections Hints – Groups/Categories
Today’s Connections groups are…
- 🟨 Yellow group — attire
- 🟩 Green group – foamy things
- 🟦 Blue group — things that use filters
- 🟪 Purple group — ____ office
NYT Connections Answers
Spoiler alert! Don’t scroll any further down the page until you’re ready to find out today’s Connections answers.
This is your last chance to look away.
This is your final warning!
Today’s Connections answers are…
- 🟨 Yellow group — attire (DUDS, FIT, GETUP, THREADS)
- 🟩 Green group – foamy things (BEER, FIRE EXTINGUISHER, SEA, SHAVING CREAM)
- 🟦 Blue group — things that use filters (AIR PURIFIER, CIGARETTE, COFFEE MAKER, INSTAGRAM)
- 🟪 Purple group — ____ office (BOX, MICROSOFT, OVAL, POST)
Having INSTAGRAM and THREADS (Instagram’s Twitter clone) on the grid made me think for a second that we might have a group of social media apps, but nothing else quite worked. THREADS, however, did go with the rest of the yellows for my first group of the day.
POST and MICROSOFT landed next to each other, which helped me figure out the purples. The greens were up next.
That left the blues. I did figure out the connection after a little thought. I did just change the filter in my AIR PURIFIER, after all. I thought INSTAGRAM got rid of filters years ago, but that just shows you how little I – a person who writes about technology and social media all day – post on that app.
Regardless, that means my overall streak now sits at 257 victories. How did you get on today? Here’s my grid:
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟪🟪🟪🟪
Everything’s pretty straightforward today in terms of the categories, so there’s no need for an Answers Explained column this time, I don’t think.
That’s all there is to it for today’s Connections clues and answers. Be sure to check my blog tomorrow for hints and the solution for Friday’s game if you need them.
P.S. I really ought to make a point of watching every edition of NPR’s Tiny Desk concert series instead of maybe every other one. I hadn’t heard of Nova Twins before checking this edition of Tiny Desk from last week, but holy smokes! I’m not sure how they slipped under my radar until now. They’re rad.
Nova Twins are a rap rock/alt rock duo from London who use a wide array of pedal effects. The sounds that Georgia South gets out of her bass are unreal. She almost turns the instrument into a synthesizer. South and singer/guitarist Amy Love make for a darn great pairing.
I definitely recommend taking 18 minutes to watch this. I need to listen to more of Nova Twins, stat:
Have a great day! Stay hydrated! Be kind to yourself and each other! Call someone you love!
Please follow my blog for more NYT Connections hints and help with other word games, and even some video game news, insights and analysis. It helps me out a lot! Sharing this column with other people who play Connections would be appreciated too. You can also read my weekend editions of this column at my newsletter, Pastimes.
