Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers for Oct. 20, #497

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Need the answers for the New York Times Connections puzzle? To me, Wordle is more of a vocabulary test, but Connections is more of a brainteaser. You’re given 16 words and asked to put them into four groups that are somehow connected. Sometimes they’re obvious, but game editor Wyna Liu knows how to trick you by using words that can fit into more than one group. Read on for today’s Connections hints and answers.

There’s also news in the Connections world. The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one it’s had for some time for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. And players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: NYT Connections Could Be the New Wordle: Our Hints and Tips

How to play Connections

Playing is easy. Winning is hard. Look at the 16 words and mentally assign them to related groups of four. Click on the four words you think go together. The groups are coded by color, though you don’t know what goes where until you see the answers. The yellow group is the easiest, then green, then blue, and purple is the toughest. Look at the words carefully and think about related terms. Sometimes the connection has to do with just a part of the word. Once, four words were grouped because each started with the name of a rock band, including “Rushmore” and “Journeyman.”

Read more: New NYT Connections Game for Sports Fans Lets Players Swing for the Fences

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest, yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Extra, extra!

Green group hint: Cover your ears.

Blue group hint: Ping-pong supplies.

Purple group hint: What’s your function?

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Bit of newspaper writing.

Green group: Noisy disturbance.

Blue group: Table tennis needs.

Purple group: Homophones of coordinating conjunctions.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is bit of newspaper writing. The four answers are article, column, feature and story.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is noisy disturbance. The four answers are clatter, racket, row and ruckus.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is table tennis needs. The four answers are ball, net, paddle and table.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is homophones of coordinating conjunctions. The four answers are butt, fore, oar and sew.