Today’s NYT Connections Hints (and Answer) for Wednesday, October 18, 2023

If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Wednesday, October 18, 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 18, NYT Connections #129! It’s a relatively easy one today, as these things go. 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 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?

Nope, all pretty straightforward today! A few words that maybe not everybody will recognize:

• A TANG can be a tropical saltwater fish, but it’s more often used in the form of an adjective: TANGy. Something tangy has a sharp, perhaps sour flavor to it.
• A GUST is a sudden burst of wind. For example, a forecast might say “wind speed varies between 2.2 and 6.7 [miles per hour] with gusts up to 13.4 mph.”

Hints for the themes in today’s Connections puzzle

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

• Yellow category – I can’t keep my eyes open.
• Green category – Time to put on a jacket?
• Blue category – Watch out for that medium salsa.
• Purple category – Just one, please.

Does today’s Connections game involve any wordplay?

Nope, today’s groupings are all classic meaning-based categories, with a few ambiguous words so it’s not too easy. Nothing relating to spelling, pronunciation, or tricky fill-in-the-blanks today.

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?

• A BOXER can be a dog, or a person who punches people for fun and/or money. It’s also half of a pair of shorts.
• To SNOOZE is to lose, as they say; it’s the button on your alarm clock, or the idea of taking a short, light nap. More relevant here: if something is so boring it could put you to sleep, you might say that thing is a SNOOZE.
• To ZIP is to fasten a zipper, or to speed along in a race car. You might also say, metaphorically, that somebody or something “has some ZIP.”

What are the categories in today’s Connections?

• Yellow: SOMETHING TIRESOME
• Green: BIT OF WIND
• Blue: PIQUANCY
• Purple: SINGULAR OF THINGS SEEN IN PAIRS

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 SOMETHING TIRESOME and the words are: BORE, DRAG, SNOOZE, YAWN.

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 BIT OF WIND and the words are: BREEZE, DRAFT, GUST, PUFF.

What are the blue words in today’s Connections?

The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is PIQUANCY and the words are: BITE, KICK, TANG, ZIP.

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 SINGULAR OF THINGS SEEN IN PAIRS and the words are: BOXER, GOGGLE, PANT, TONG.

How I solved today’s Connections

These are fun words. GOGGLE, SNOOZE, ZIP. But what do they all mean? Let’s start with GUST, which can only be a type of wind. It goes with BREEZE, and we could charitably include a DRAFT in the house or a PUFF of wind. 🟩

Next, what about TONG and TANG? Food that has a TANG to it could also be said to have a KICK, or some BITE. Maybe a little ZIP. 🟦

It’s all coming together now. If you’re nodding off in class, maybe that’s because the teacher is a SNOOZE, a YAWN, a BORE, a DRAG. 🟨

And finally, we face up against the BOXER. That’s half a pair of shorts, just like T(H?)ONG is half a pair of flip-flops, and something similar is happening with GOGGLE and PANT. 🟪 Before submitting, I googled to see whether the old word for flip-flop is spelled tong or thong; it’s thong, but I remember it being pronounced “tong”; that said, it did fall out of favor around the same time as the rise in popularity of thong underwear. This grouping seems to include a pair of salad or grilling TONGs alongside three clothing items, which bothers my sense of symmetry—but still fits the category.

Connections 
Puzzle #129
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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!