There are some hard-to-define categories In today’s Connections and a lot of crossover in the two easier categories. It might be easier to solve the two harder categories first, although the last one is a bit odd, the words stand out more than the others. However you choose to solve this one, we have hints and spoilers for you to get you to the end.
If you like making matches, the NYT Tiles game is the one for you. You will enjoy looking at various mosaic-like tiles and breaking them down layer by layer. If you match them together, you will get a bigger streak and a higher score. The longer your streak, the better your game and the better you will do.
Today’s Connections Category Hints
SEPTEMBER 08 #454
Getting the right answers depends on getting the categories right, or at least guessing close enough to understand what the editor was going for. This can be hard if one or more of the words bleed into each other. Here are four clues for today’s puzzle:
- One category has to do with baking
- One category is about an organ doing its job
- One category is about a specific title
- One category is four words that share a second word in a phrase
If those clues were not enough for you, you can keep scrolling to see the category names for today. This will be very helpful in picking apart the two easier categories and being able to sort out which words belong to which one.
 |
VERBS IN A CAKE RECIPE |
 |
WHAT A HEART DOES WHEN EXCITED |
 |
ECCLESIASTICAL TITLES |
 |
___ BOYS |
Today’s Connections Answers
SEPTEMBER 08 #454
Yellow Answers: Revealed & Explained
|
VERBS IN A CAKE RECIPE |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
BAKE |
BEAT |
FROST |
PREHEAT |
The thought I kept coming back to was that PREHEAT and BAKE meant we should be looking for words on an oven. When that proved fruitless, I kept looking at POUND, BEAT, and THROB, which of course kept leading me to get the “one away” clue and making it much harder for myself.
FROST would be a major clue here, if you caught on that it had to do with cake frosting and not it being cold outside. I should have clocked it easier, my grandma does nothing if not bake cakes.
Green Answers: Revealed & Explained
|
WHAT A HEART DOES WHEN EXCITED |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
POUND |
PUMP |
RACE |
THROB |
As stated, I already had POUND, PUMP, and THROB together, but with BEAT as opposed to RACE. A heart does beat fast when excited, so this is not necessarily a wrong answer but it is wrong for this puzzle. The main problem was that RACE did not seem to belong with this grouping, and it took me a while to see that connection.
Blue Answers: Revealed & Explained
ECCLESIASTICAL TITLES |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
BISHOP |
PASTOR |
POPE |
PRIOR |
This one actually felt much easier than the previous two. The words are distinct and are not verbs, for one, and it is a lot easier to spot the religious title tie between them. I likely have an advantage there, taking several religious studies classes, but it still feels like this one stands out as the easier category for today for multiple reasons.
Most people are at least vaguely aware of the existence of a POPE and PASTOR, and the remaining two are really the only options that make sense.
Purple Answers: Revealed & Explained
___ BOYS |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
BAD |
BEACH |
HARDY |
PET SHOP |
This category may not be easier than the first two, but I do think the words are more distinct. You can rule out most of them belonging to a different category since they are not verbs like the first two categories are, and it is all that is left once the ecclesiastical words have been removed. That being said, many of these references will be obscure to younger audiences, unless their parents introduced them to some of them.
Other Games Like Connections
After you think about your nostalgia and wonder about the obscure references you will introduce to your kids, you can check out a puzzle below featuring more obscure trivia:
