ARE WE THERE YET? The first line of today’s puzzle was thematically appropriate. I kept thinking I had solved the tricky purple category, only to find there must be something trickier still waiting for me. If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Friday, November 3, 2023, read on—I’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solutions to all four categories. Along the way, I’ll explain the meanings of the trickier words and we’ll learn how everything fits together. Beware, there are spoilers below for November 3, NYT Connections #145! 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 farther 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?
No, the words are all pretty straightforward.
Hints for the themes in today’s Connections puzzle
Here are some spoiler-free hints for the groupings in today’s Connections:
Yellow category - But, but...
Green category - Doubling up.
Blue category - Makes you want to write a letter.
Purple category - A queen bee would understand.
Does today’s Connections game involve any wordplay?
There are three categories that seem like they could be tricky enough for purple. One relates to pronunciation, one to the way the words are often used, and the actual purple category is a fill-in-the-blank. There is only one category where the uniting factor is the words’ meanings.
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?
King TUT is the nickname of Tutankhamun, the teenage Egyptian pharoah whose tomb was discovered in the 1920’s. It’s also a sound you can make when you disapprove of something.
YET can mean something like “already,” as in “Are we there YET?” But it’s also a word that is used to signpost a change in sentiment, as when Polonius says in Hamlet: “THOUGH this be madness, YET there is method in’t.”
To FLUSH a toilet is to send everything down the drain, but a hunting dog can FLUSH birds, and a poker player can end up with a straight or royal FLUSH.
WE and YOU are both pronouns, but they aren’t in the same category today.
What are the categories in today’s Connections?
Yellow: NEVERTHELESS
Green: REPEATED WORDS IN EXPRESSIONS
Blue: WORDS ABBREVIATED WITH LETTERS
Purple: ROYAL ____
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 NEVERTHELESS and the words are: HOWEVER, STILL, THOUGH, YET.
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 REPEATED WORDS IN EXPRESSIONS and the words are: HEAR, KNOCK, THERE, TUT.
What are the blue words in today’s Connections?
The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is WORDS ABBREVIATED WITH LETTERS and the words are: ARE, SEE, WHY, YOU (R, C, Y, U).
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 ROYAL ____ and the words are: FAMILY, FLUSH, JELLY, WE (royal JELLY being a substance that bees feed to all their young in the first few days of life; a bee who is given royal jelly as she continues to develop can develop into a queen.)
How I solved today’s Connections
I kept seeing sentences (ARE YOU STILL FAMILY?) but finally spotted a few synonyms in THOUGH, FOREVER, YET, and STILL. 🟨
For a minute I thought SEE and HEAR would be another group of senses (no, that was Monday) but then I realized SEE, YOU, ARE, and WHY are words that sound like letters. 🟦
Interestingly, that was the blue category; I would have expected it to be purple. Not sure what to do with the remaining eight, I started looking for a fill-in-the-blank. What word goes with THERE? How about...THERE THERE? That’s when I realized we had other doubles: KNOCK KNOCK, HEAR HEAR, and now I finally knew what to do with TUT! It’s not the Egyptian boy-king, but the disapproving sound TUT TUT. 🟩
But that still wasn’t my fill-in-the-blank. Left with WE, JELLY, FLUSH, and FAMILY, I realized I was looking at a group of royals. 🟪
Connections Puzzle #145 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟪🟪🟪🟪
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!