If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Sunday, September 17, 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 September 17, NYT Connections #98! Scroll to the end if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Connections game.
By the way, 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.
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. 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?
Movie buffs will have an easier time with one of these categories than the rest of us.
Hints for the themes in today’s Connections puzzle
Here are some spoiler-free hints for the groupings in today’s Connections:
- Yellow category – Tasty!
- Green category – Expensive
- Blue category – Famous
- Purple category – It’s not easy!
Does today’s Connections game involve any wordplay?
There are some proper names in here that look like dictionary words. And there are some words whose meanings don’t relate to each other, but that are related in their meaning to a word not on the board.
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 farther down.)
What are the ambiguous words in today’s Connections?
- SWANK can mean luxurious or ostentatious; it’s also the last name of actress Hilary Swank.
- DELUXE, on many diner menus, means that the item comes with fries. This is completely unrelated to its meaning in this puzzle, but I had to share.
- UNWELL is a song by Matchbox Twenty, but here it refers to literally feeling sick.
- BERRY is both a type of fruit in the culinary sense (strawberries, raspberries, etc.) and a morphology of fruit in the botanical sense (in which blueberries and bananas are berries, but strawberries are not). In any case, this puzzle does not use either meaning. This is not an edible BERRY.
What are the categories in today’s Connections?
- Yellow: FRUITS
- Green: LUXURIOUS
- Blue: BEST ACTRESS OSCAR WINNERS
- Purple: WHAT “GREEN” MIGHT MEAN
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 FRUITS and the words are: APRICOT, FIG, GRAPE, LIME.
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 LUXURIOUS and the words are: DELUXE, GRAND, LAVISH, OPULENT.
What are the blue words in today’s Connections?
The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is BEST ACTRESS OSCAR WINNERS and the words are: BERRY, FOSTER, STONE, SWANK.
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 WHAT “GREEN” MIGHT MEAN and the words are: ENVIOUS, FRESH, NAIVE, UNWELL.
How I solved today’s Connections
This was another tough one for me. I saw SWANK, LAVISH, and OPULENT, and submitted them with two different fourth items: DELUXE, and then GRAND. Both of those were “one away.” I also saw five fruits, and wasn’t sure which one to eliminate. My usual strategy of jotting down potential groupings was not turning up any insights.
I made one more gamble, on the fruits. I left out BERRY, since that was less specific, and went with APRICOT, FIG, GRAPE, LIME. That was a hit. So what could BERRY mean, besides the fruit and the botanical term?
I thought of Chuck BERRY. Isn’t there also a Chuck FOSTER? Fruits are gone, so I’m not thinking of Bananas FOSTER anymore, but what about FOSTER children and GRANDchildren?
I took an absolute stab in the dark with FOSTER, BERRY, SWANK, and STONE. The two Chucks (or maybe Mary BERRY) along with Hilary SWANK and the only other word left that looked like a possible last name: STONE. Amazingly, that was a hit: best actress Oscar winners. (Sharon Stone, Halle Berry, Jodie Foster, and—yes—Hilary Swank.)
I got the luxury words next (an easy grouping once SWANK was out) and submitted the last category without any idea what ENVIOUS, NAIVE, FRESH, and UNWELL had in common. They are all related to the color green.
Connections
Puzzle #98
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