NYT ‘Connections’ October 26: Clues and Answers for Game #503

Maybe you know his famous big brother Wordbut make sure you check out Connections at.

After Word, Connections is The New York Times’ second most popular game. It was developed in 2023 by puzzle editor Wyna Liu.

The game works by giving players 16 different words. The challenge is then to place these in four groups of four, using a category that connects them. Each of the four categories is color coded by difficulty, with the yellow category being the easiest and purple the hardest. The green and blue categories have an average level of difficulty.

Liu gets the ideas Connections from her daily experiences, using a notebook to write down ideas as they come to her and eventually uploading them to an official spreadsheet.

In an interview with SlateLiu said, “The process is that I have a notebook where I write down category ideas. And when I sit down to make boards, I take one of those ideas, I take those words, and then I start from that, the boards are built , and sometimes it goes in surprising directions.”

Liu added that one of the most “happy” things about creating the game is that she doesn’t know what the categories will be when she starts with the “seed” of an idea.

What is the best way to solve ‘connections’?

Well, according to Liu, who sat down with me Newsweek earlier this year, don’t follow her lead and take an “anger resolution” approach.

Instead, Liu advises waiting as long as possible before guessing a category. “My best advice is to wait as long as possible before gambling,” she said.

“You may see the board and have fully identified the category, seeing five words that could belong in that category.

“Don’t try to guess the four words in that category because even if you know what the fifth paragraph is, you don’t know which of the four it might not be.” If you do, you will waste one of your attempts, of which there are only four.

The four guesses, Liu said, pass “extremely quickly.”

‘Connections’ prompts for October 26

Yellow: Synonyms for ‘restless’

Vegetable: Words to describe digital communication

Blue: Where you can maybe chill outside

Purple: Things that all have a certain shape

‘Connections’ Answers for October 26

Yellow category: FLUSTER

Yellow words: Faze, Rattle, Ruffle, Throw

Green category: SERIES OF MESSAGES

Green words: chain, chat, conversation, thread

Blue category: PLACES TO LIE/SIT THAT MOVE

Blue words: cradle, hammock, rocking chair, swing

Purple category: CYLINDER SHAPED THINGS

Purple words: can, roller, silo, coil