NYT Connections Hints – Today’s Word List

Scroll slowly! I’ll first give you a list of today’s words, then a hint for each category. After that, I’ll reveal one word that goes into each group. Then I’ll tell you the category names, followed by the full answers.

Today’s 16 words are...

• GONZO
• NUTTY
• CAROLINA REAPER
• JACK-IN-THE-BOX
• SONIC
• FIRM
• TOASTER
• CHIPOTLE
• BELL PEPPER
• EJECTOR SEAT
• SWISS
• BLUE
• POP-UP BOOK
• GENIE
• HOLEY
• PEPPERONCINO

NYT Connections Hints

And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:

• 🟨 Yellow group — capsicum-related
• 🟩 Green group — like a pogo stick or (for a very short time) a shop or market
• 🟦 Blue group — it's Emmentaler, my dear Watson
• 🟪 Purple group — thomas, stitch and dory belong here

NYT Connections Hints – One Answer Per Group

Need some extra help?

Be warned: we’re starting to get into spoiler territory.

Let’s take a look at one answer for each group.

Here we go…

• 🟨 Yellow group — CAROLINA REAPER
• 🟩 Green group — TOASTER
• 🟦 Blue group — HOLEY
• 🟪 Purple group — GONZO

NYT Connections Hints – Groups/Categories

Today’s Connections groups are...

• 🟨 Yellow group — peppers
• 🟩 Green group — things that pop up
• 🟦 Blue group — descriptors for Swiss cheese
• 🟪 Purple group — blue characters

NYT Connections Answers

Spoiler alert! Don’t scroll any further down the page until you’re ready to find out today’s Connections answers.

This is your last chance to look away.

This is your final warning!

Today’s Connections answers are...

• 🟨 Yellow group — peppers (BELL PEPPER, CAROLINA REAPER, CHIPOTLE, PEPPERONCINO)
• 🟩 Green group — things that pop up (EJECTOR SEAT, JACK-IN-THE-BOX, POP-UP BOOK, TOASTER)
• 🟦 Blue group — descriptors for Swiss cheese (FIRM, HOLEY, NUTTY, SWISS)
• 🟪 Purple group — blue characters (BLUE, GENIE, GONZO, SONIC)

I first thought there might be a group of fast food chains, thanks to JACK-IN-THE-BOX, SONIC and CHIPOTLE, but I didn't see a fourth to go with those. GONZO (from The Muppets) and GENIE (from Disney's Aladdin) then made me think of blue characters to go with SONIC (The Hedgehog) and BLUE (of Blue's Clues). That took care of the purples.

Things that pop up were next for the greens. After that, I assembled the peppers – not too tough considering "pepper" is in the name of two of them – for the yellows. That left Swiss cheese descriptors for the blues and the win.

(The U.S. Department of Agriculture uses the terms "Swiss" and "Emmentaler" interchangeably, hence my play on a Sherlock Holmes quote for the blue hint. A bit of a stretch that one, I have to admit.)

Not too tough today. That's win 405 on the spin for me. And I guess I've already spelled out everything that was worth explaining, so no Answers Explained column from me today.

How did you get on today? Here's my grid:

🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟦🟦🟦🟦

That’s all there is to it for my latest weekday run of Connections clues and answers. I’ll be back with you for more shenanigans on Monday. In the meantime, you can read my weekend editions of this column at my newsletter, Pastimes.

P.S. Let’s slide into the weekend with "Your Nonsense Makes Sense" by The 502s, a lovely, stompy indie folk song. The lack of possessive apostrophe in the band’s name makes me like them even more. Some artists use that punctuation where it doesn’t belong and it drives me up the wall! Anyway, I hope you dig this one as much as I do:

Have a great day! Stay hydrated! Be kind to yourself and each other! Call someone you love!

Please follow my blog for more NYT Connections hints and help with other word games, and even some video game news, insights and analysis. It helps me out a lot! Sharing this column with other people who play Connections would be appreciated too.