If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Friday, September 22, 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 September 22, NYT Connections #103! Scroll to the end if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Connections game.
By the way, 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.
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. 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?
Yes. There are movie references today, and I hadn’t seen the movies, so I was stumped on that category!
Hints for the themes in today’s Connections puzzle
Here are some spoiler-free hints for the groupings in today’s Connections:
- Yellow category – Think ice cream.
- Green category – Let’s get this nailed down.
- Blue category – Spooky and twisty.
- Purple category – Some other words that might fit here could include SURF or SKATE.
Does today’s Connections game involve any wordplay?
There’s a fill-in-the-blank category for purple again. Also, fair warning, some of the words refer to movie titles rather than objects.
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?
- This is probably only ambiguous for New Yorkers, but a CONCRETE isn’t just a cement-containing building material; it’s also a frozen treat in the milkshake family.
- To FLOAT and to HOVER sound similar, but they are in different categories today.
- A STAR can be a famous person, or a miasma of incandescent plasma in the sky. Sailors refer to the right side of a ship as STARboard, not because of stars, but because that’s where the steering oar was placed. (Steer board, get it?)
What are the categories in today’s Connections?
- Yellow: SODA FOUNTAIN ORDERS
- Green: SET, AS PLANS
- Blue: M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN MOVIES
- Purple: ____BOARD
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 SODA FOUNTAIN ORDERS and the words are: FLOAT, MALT, SHAKE, SUNDAE.
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 SET, AS PLANS and the words are: CONCRETE, FIRM, SOLID, TANGIBLE.
What are the blue words in today’s Connections?
The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN MOVIES and the words are: GLASS, OLD, SIGNS, SPLIT.
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 ____BOARD and the words are: DASH, HOVER, KEY, STAR.
How I solved today’s Connections
TANGIBLE stood out first, and look—here’s CONCRETE and SOLID. Then I noticed MALT, SHAKE, and SUNDAE, and remembered that a CONCRETE can be a dessert like a milkshake.
I needed a tiebreaker, and at first I thought it was the banana SPLIT. So I submitted my tangibles, which were correct, then my desserts, which were wrong. I got those on the next try—turns out I should have thought of a root beer FLOAT instead of the banana SPLIT.
Down to the last two groupings, things were getting tough. What could HOVER go with, besides “board”? There’s also STARboard, DASHboard, and…GLASSboard? (Google tells me this is an item you can write on, like a whiteboard but made of glass.) I burned a mistake there, and I’m sure some of you are yelling at your screen right now.
I had to stare at the game for a long time, then rope in a friend to help, talking it out, before it dawned on me that KEYboard is a word. You know, like the thing I’ve literally been typing on this whole time?
I did not understand the last grouping at all. One is an adjective, and one is plural? Ugh, movie titles. Of movies I haven’t seen. Of course.
Connections Puzzle #103 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟦🟨🟨🟨 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟪🟪🟦🟪 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟦🟦🟦🟦
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