Today’s NYT Connections is puzzle #529, published Thursday, November 21, 2024. Want a nudge before the solution? Start with the color-coded hints below; the complete groups and 16-word grid follow.
Spoiler-safe hints for Connections #529
- Yellow: “mid-level fashion” — think types of shirts.
- Green: “these get around in beverages” — think of the chewy spheres in milk tea.
- Blue: “spineless creatures, but not necessarily cowards” — think of familiar names for marine invertebrates.
- Purple: “bar” and “pill” would fit in here — look for the starts of pasta names.
Today’s Connections answers
| Color | Category | Words |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow | Kinds of shirts | FLANNEL, OXFORD, POLO, TEE |
| Green | Spheres in milk tea | BOBA, BUBBLE, PEARL, TAPIOCA |
| Blue | Marine invertebrates, familiarly | CORAL, JELLY, SPONGE, STAR |
| Purple | Starts of pasta names | FETT, PENN, TORTE, ZIT |
The purple words are stems rather than full pasta names: FETT- for fettuccine, PENN- for penne, TORTE- for tortelli, tortellini, or tortelloni, and ZIT- for ziti.
The full 16-word grid
BOBA, FETT, POLO, STAR, OXFORD, SPONGE, BUBBLE, PENN, PEARL, TORTE, CORAL, TEE, ZIT, JELLY, FLANNEL, TAPIOCA.
Why this grid is tricky
- BOBA and FETT: Together they suggest Boba Fett from Star Wars, but they belong to separate groups: milk-tea spheres and pasta-name starts.
- SPONGE and JELLY: Both can bring desserts or SpongeBob to mind. Here, they join CORAL and STAR as familiar names for marine invertebrates; STAR refers to a starfish or sea star.
- Purple’s wordplay: The last category is built from the beginnings of pasta names, not a standard set of complete words.
How Connections works
Connections gives players 16 words to sort into four groups of four. A wrong guess counts against the player, and four mistakes end the game. Forbes describes the game as free to play on the New York Times website or Games app, with a new puzzle at midnight. An All Access or Games subscription provides access to the Connections archive.
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Published difficulty
Tom’s Guide reports a 3.3 out of 5 difficulty rating for puzzle #529, attributed to the Connections Companion. This is a published rating, not an independently measured solve rate.
Quick Recap
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