If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Wednesday, October 11, 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 11, NYT Connections #122! 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?
Nope, today’s words are common ones and pretty much mean what they say.
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’m ready for my close-up.
Green category - I must, I shall, I will...
Blue category - The cream of the crop.
Purple category - Most of these come on a roll.
Does today’s Connections game involve any wordplay?
Just a fill-in-the-blank for the purple category.
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?
LEAD here refers to being in front of something; no relation to the metal.
CUT does not go with BUTCHER today
Even though PRIME is one of the words used to grade steaks, and even though that meaning is relevant to how we’re using it in today’s puzzle, it’s not in a group with meat-related words like BUTCHER or CUT.
What are the categories in today’s Connections?
Yellow: FILM SET DIRECTIVES
Green: CONDITIONAL WORDS
Blue: FOREMOST
Purple: ____ PAPER
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 FILM SET DIRECTIVES and the words are: ACTION, CAMERA, CUT, LIGHTS.
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 CONDITIONAL WORDS and the words are: CAN, COULD, MAY, MIGHT.
What are the blue words in today’s Connections?
The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is FOREMOST and the words are: HEAD, LEAD, PRIME, TOP.
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 ____ PAPER and the words are: BUTCHER, SCRAP, TOILET, WAX.
How I solved today’s Connections
I saw the modal verbs first: CAN, COULD, MAY, MIGHT. (After complaining about MAY and WILL the other day, I have to say this grouping makes a lot more sense.) 🟩
Next, I did my best to ignore BUTCHER, CUT, and PRIME, and instead found LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION—three words the director might shout at the beginning of a scene, followed by CUT at the end. 🟨
PRIME, then, could just be a signifier of being the best at something—like HEAD, LEAD, and TOP. 🟦
I was down to the last grouping, again unsure what the words have in common. BUTCHERs can end up with SCRAPs, and you use a WAX ring to seal a TOILET to the bathroom floor. It took me a minute to see the obvious: TOILET paper, SCRAP paper, WAX paper, BUTCHER paper. 🟪
Connections Puzzle #122 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟪🟪🟪🟪
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!