If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Sunday, October 6, 2024, read on: I’ll share some pointers, tips and strategies, and finally the solutions for all four categories. Along the way I explain the meaning of the more difficult words and we learn how everything fits together. Beware, below are spoilers for October 6, NYT Connections #483! Read on if you want some hints (and then the answer) for today’s Connections game.

For an easy way to come back to our Connections tips every day, bookmark this page. You can also find our previous hints there, in case you want to find out what you missed in a previous puzzle.

Below I’ll give you some indirect hints about today’s Connections answers. And further down the page I reveal the themes and the answers. Scroll slowly and take only the hints you need!

Credit: Connections/NYT

Tips for the themes in today’s Connections puzzle

Here are some spoiler-free hints for today’s groupings in Connections:

• Yellow category: what you could do after admitting defeat.

• Green category – Verbs for your furry friend.

• Blue category – Digital navigation options.

• Purple category – A fill-in-the-blank exercise, featuring a dairy product that comes in many shapes and styles.

NOTE: Spoilers follow for today’s Connections puzzle!

We’re about to give away some answers. Scroll slowly if you don’t want everything to be spoiled. (The full solution is a little further down.)

A warning about the tricky parts

COTTAGE, HOME, RETREAT and BARN do not go together, despite all being words that can refer to shelter. (Two of them are verbs.)

KNEAD has nothing to do with baking, but it looks like it.

What are the categories in today’s Connections?

• Yellow: TURN TAIL

• Green: THINGS CATS DO

• Blue: PAGES ON A WEBSITE

• Purple: ___ CHEESE

NOTE: THE SOLUTION IS BELOW

Ready to learn the answers to today’s Connections puzzle? I’m giving them all away below.

What are the yellow words in today’s Connections?

The yellow grouping is considered the simplest. The theme for today’s yellow group is TURN TAIL and the words are: FLIGHT, DEPARTURE, WITHDRAW, WITHDRAW.

What are the green words in today’s Connections?

The green grouping would be the second easiest. The theme for today’s green category is THINGS CATS DO and the words are: KNEAD, PURR, SCRATCH, SHED.

What are the blue words in today’s Connections?

The blue grouping is the second most difficult. The theme for today’s blue category is PAGES ON A WEBSITE and the words are: ABOUT, CONTACT, HOME, LOGIN.

What are the purple words in today’s Connections?

The purple grouping is considered the most difficult. The theme for today’s purple category is ___ CHEESE and the words are: COTTAGE, CREAM, GOAT, STRING.

How I solved today’s connections

It seems that WITHDRAW, LEAVE, FLEE and WITHDRAW all go together. I thought RETREAT might fit in with COTTAGE (like a summer RETREAT), but this seems like a better fit. 🟨

Oh, and COTTAGE doesn’t belong with HOME either: HOME belongs with LOGIN, CONTACT and ABOUT, because those are all navigation options in the top navigation bar of a website. 🟦

It seems like KNEAD, PURR, SHED and SCRATCH all go together, like things a cat might do. 🟩

That leaves CREAM, GOAT, COTTAGE and STRING, all types of cheese. 🟪 Not bad today!

Connections
Puzzle #483
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How to play Connections

I have a full one guide to playing Connectionsbut here’s a refresher on the rules:

First, find the Connections game on the New York Times website or in their Games app (formerly the Crossword app). You 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 of the same type (e.g. RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, and SNOW are all types of wet weather), but sometimes there is word play (e.g. BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH are all types of lists: bucket list, guest list, etc.).

Select four items and click the Send 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 wrong, you get a chance to try again.

You win if you correctly identify 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 you need to know to win Connections is that the groupings are designed to be difficult. Expect to see overlapping groups. For example, one puzzle appeared to contain six breakfast items: BACON, EGG, PANCAKES, 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 dozens of things (along with JUROR, ROSE and MONTH). So don’t press ‘Send’ before you have confirmed that your group of four exists only those four things.

If you’re stuck, another strategy is to look at the words that seem to have No connection with the others. If the only thing that comes to mind when you see WHISTLER is the painting nicknamed “Whistler’s Mother,” you might be on to something. Once I solved that, I googled to see if there was a painter named Close, because Close didn’t fit into any of the obvious themes either.

Of course, another way to win when you’re stuck is to read some helpful tips. That’s why we share these tips every day. Come back tomorrow for the next puzzle!