NYT Connections Answers: The New York Times’ daily word game, Connections, dropped its October 22 challenge today, and it had just the right mix of easy and tricky clues. Players were asked to group 16 words into four secret sets, a task that sounds simple but can quickly turn into a guessing game of logic and luck. Like Wordle, Connections resets every day and has a loyal group of fans who love spotting patterns and testing their thinking skills.
If you struggled with today’s puzzle, here’s a full list of hints and the final answers.
What Is Connections & How Do You Play?
Connections is a word puzzle where players must sort 16 words into four groups of four. Each group of words shares a common idea or theme. The challenge lies in spotting these links while avoiding false clues designed to confuse you.
For example, “Hook,” “Nana,” “Peter,” and “Wendy” are all Peter Pan characters. Or “Action,” “Ballpark,” “Go,” and “Stick” are words that can come before “Figure.”
You only get four mistakes before the puzzle ends, and once you hit the limit, the answers appear automatically. Each group is colour-coded by difficulty:
- Yellow (easiest)
- Green (easy)
- Blue (medium)
- Purple (hardest)
It’s quick to play, but every puzzle has clever twists that make even simple words tricky to connect.
Hints & Full Solution To NYT Connections (October 22)
Here are the official hints for today’s puzzle:
- Yellow: Good chance they’re on your list of monthly bills.
- Green: This is how you adapt.
- Blue: They’re tiny, they come in high numbers, and they may bite.
- Purple: Add a word like “double” before each word in this group.
Extra clues:
- Each group has a short three- or four-letter word.
- The carpenter and tailor are not in the same group.
One word from each group:
- Yellow: Telephone
- Green: Tailor
- Blue: Fire
- Purple: Right
Full Solution for October 22 (Puzzle #863):
- Yellow (Utilities): Electric, Gas, Telephone, Water
- Green (Adapt to Fit One’s Needs): Fashion, Mold, Shape, Tailor
- Blue (Kinds of Ants): Army, Carpenter, Fire, Pharaoh
- Purple (Copy___): Cat, Pasta, Right, Writer
Today’s puzzle had a clever mix of simple ideas and sneaky distractions. Many players found the blue group challenging, since “Army,” “Fire,” and “Carpenter” can mean other things too.
The purple group stood out once “Copycat” clicked in place, and the yellow “Utilities” theme was the most straightforward. A well-balanced, satisfying puzzle to end the midweek with!