Saturday’s installment of the New York Times word-sorting game is out, and anyone searching for NYT Connections hints and answers October 24 is dealing with a puzzle that its solver rated Hard. Game #1231 asks players to arrange sixteen words into four groups of four, and the categories run from narrow strips to screen-filling advertisements.
The sixteen words in Game #1231
Here is the full board: COMIC, SALAD, BACON, SPARKLER, POPSICLE, POP-UP, CANDY, HOBBY HORSE, BANNER, PINWHEEL, SPACE, FILM, INTERSTITIAL, SPORTS, MÖBIUS and OVERLAY.
Nothing about that list looks tidy at first glance. Several words could plausibly belong to more than one theme, which is part of why the puzzle earns its Hard label.
Hints before the answers
If you want to keep the solve going, these nudges point toward each category without naming the members.
- Yellow: These things come in narrow pieces.
- Green: A format you can hold.
- Blue: Methods of internet advertising.
- Purple: Add a word rhyming with “car.”
Yellow: KINDS OF STRIPS
BACON, COMIC, FILM and MÖBIUS. The first three are everyday associations; the fourth is the trickier one, since a Möbius strip is a loop with a single surface. All four fit the narrow-band idea.
Green: THINGS ON STICKS
HOBBY HORSE, PINWHEEL, POPSICLE and SPARKLER. Each is an object you might mounted on a stick and held in the hand.
Blue: ONLINE AD FORMATS
BANNER, INTERSTITIAL, OVERLAY and POP-UP. The solver described these as annoying and obstructive, and singled out interstitials as ads that cover the screen and force you to hunt for a close button. The same commentary suggested online advertising would improve if it were less irritating — a view that says more about the format than about the puzzle.
Purple: _____ BAR
CANDY, SALAD, SPACE and SPORTS. Add a word rhyming with “car” — bar — and the phrases fall into place: candy bar, salad bar, space bar, sports bar. It is the kind of wordplay Connections likes to save for last.
How the solve went
The author rated #1231 as Hard and reported one mistake. The slip came when PINWHEEL was guessed before INTERSTITIAL. That cost one of the four errors the game allows, leaving three in reserve.
The final category can often be reached by elimination once the other three are locked in, which softens the blow of a late stumble. The puzzle also leans on homophones and word tricks, so a flexible reading of each entry helps.
Friday's answers, Game #1230
The previous day’s board broke down as follows:
- Yellow — FORTHRIGHT: DIRECT, FRANK, OPEN, VOCAL
- Green — THINGS YOU INSTALL ON A COMPUTER: DRIVER, EXTENSION, PLUGIN, UPDATE
- Blue — QUANTITIES IN A FORMULA FOR POWER: DISTANCE, FORCE, POWER, TIME
- Purple — _____ TAP: DOUBLE, LOVE, PHONE, SPINAL
Playing the game
Connections is free on the NYT Games site for desktop and mobile, and a new puzzle arrives at midnight in each time zone. The color system runs from green (easiest) through yellow and blue to purple (hardest), though the order in which groups appear on the board does not follow that difficulty ladder.
Four mistakes are permitted per puzzle. Beyond that, the board is done.
