NYT ‘Connections’ September 16: Clues and Answers for Game #464

It’s Monday, so it’s time to start the week with a winning game of Connections.

Connections is a word game from The New York Times that became massively popular last year. It follows in the huge success of Wordle, a game created by software engineer Josh Wardle.

Do you want to continue your streak, or impress your group chat with a perfect score? Let Newsweek help you out with some tips and hints for today’s puzzle.

Spoiler alert: the answers for Monday’s Connections game are revealed at the end of this article, so please proceed with caution if you want to work them out yourself.

How to Play Connections

If you’re new to Connections, don’t worry—you’ll pick it up quick.

The game gives you 16 words, and your task is to group them into sets of four based on how they are related.

For example, in Sunday’s puzzle, one of the categories was “Decrease,” with the related words being “decline,” “drop,” “dwindle,” and “ebb.”

But be careful, some words may seem like they fit into multiple categories, which can trip you up.

The categories vary in difficulty: yellow is the easiest, purple is the toughest, while green and blue fall somewhere in between.

To play, select the words you think belong together and hit “Submit.” If you’re right, they’ll flash in their category color and vanish from the board. If not, they’ll stay gray, and you’ll lose a turn.

After four incorrect guesses, you’re out—but there’s no time limit, so feel free to step away and come back with a fresh eyes.

If you’re stuck, try clicking the “Shuffle” button for a new angle that might help you crack the puzzle!

Or scroll down for some hints if you’re looking for an extra nudge.

Connections #464: Clues for Monday, September 16

Here are Newsweek’s helpful hints to help you solve today’s Connections game:

Yellow—the most important or powerful individual in a group.

Green—things that might hurt to touch.

Blue—words used to describe soft things associated with crying or schmaltz.

Purple—items which all share a physical descriptor; something that goes on the top of an object, something that prevents change, protects, or covers, etc.

Connections #464: Answers for Monday, September 16

Yellow Category: Foremost

Yellow Words: Chief, Premier, Principal, Supreme

Green Category: Spiky Things

Green Words: Cactus, Hedgehog, Mace, Pineapple

Blue Category: Overly Sentimental Work

Blue Words: Cheese, Corn, Mush, Pap

Purple Category: Things That Are Capped

Purple Words: Bottle, Graduate, Mushroom, Salary

Monday’s puzzle was a tough one. Were you able to solve it? If not, don’t worry, a new Connections puzzle will be available on Tuesday.

Connections is released at midnight in your local time zone.

Newsweek will return with more hints and clues to make sure you keep your winning streak going.

In the meantime, why not give these some other word puzzles like Typochondria and Spellspire a try?