Come on in, set your BAG and KEYs down on the KITCHEN COUNTER, and try to forget the obvious meanings of most of those words—today is a tricky one. If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Tuesday, November 28, 2023, read on—I’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solutions to all four categories. Along the way, I’ll explain the meanings of the trickier words and we’ll learn how everything fits together. Beware, there are spoilers below for November 28, NYT Connections #170! Read on if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Connections game.
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.
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?
Some geographical terms might help. An ATOLL is a ring-shaped island formed by volcanic activity and the growth of a coral reef. The U.S. government used Bikini ATOLL as a nuclear testing site from 1946 to 1958, after forcibly displacing the people who lived there. The famous two-piece swimsuit got its name from the island, a big ol’ joke about how it was expected to have an “explosive” reaction.
Hints for the themes in today’s Connections puzzle
Here are some spoiler-free hints for the groupings in today’s Connections:
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Yellow category - Found on a floor plan.
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Green category - Little bits of land.
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Blue category - Fill ’er up!
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Purple category - Other possible entries here: burrito, curd.
Does today’s Connections game involve any wordplay?
There’s a fill-in-the-blank for purple today.
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 further down.)
What are the ambiguous words in today’s Connections?
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A KEY can be a thing that opens a lock (literally or metaphorically), and a KEY or cay is a sandy island formed by washed-up, microscopic plant and animal skeletons. Think of the Florida Keys, or the Key limes grown there.
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An ISLAND can be a COUNTER in a KITCHEN, or it can be a small landmass in a body of water.
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A DEN can be the place where wolves live, or a bonus room in a house often used for reading or TV watching.
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JAM and DIP might both bring condiments to mind, but these words are in different categories today. (I’ll give you one more hint: JAM is a verb today, DIP is not.)
What are the categories in today’s Connections?
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Yellow: ROOMS IN A HOUSE
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Green: LAND SURROUNDED BY WATER
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Blue: FILL TO EXCESS
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Purple: BEAN ____
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 ROOMS IN A HOUSE and the words are: BEDROOM, DEN, KITCHEN, STUDY.
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 LAND SURROUNDED BY WATER and the words are: ATOLL, BAR, ISLAND, KEY.
What are the blue words in today’s Connections?
The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is FILL TO EXCESS and the words are: CRAM, JAM, PACK, STUFF.
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 BEAN ____ and the words are: BAG, COUNTER, DIP, SPROUT.
How I solved today’s Connections
I see the rooms first: STUDY, KITCHEN, BEDROOM, DEN. 馃煥
COUNTER, ISLAND, and BAR are all surfaces you might use to serve or prepare food, but I can’t find a fourth. ISLAND, ATOLL, and KEY are all small landmasses in an ocean, but again, what can I do with just three of them?
I go with STUFF, PACK, JAM, and CRAM instead. 馃煢
I’m still stumped on the islands, so I look for outliers. I don’t know what to do with DIP, SPROUT, or BAG. I know there’s a good chance we’re looking at a fill-in-the-blank, because (1) most days have one, and (2) words like BAG and DIP are so simple and versatile they just scream out for something to complete them. Finally it hits me: beans. Bean COUNTER rounds out my group. 馃煪
That leaves me with ATOLL, ISLAND, KEY, and BAR. Like a sandBAR. 馃煩
Connections Puzzle #170 馃煥馃煥馃煥馃煥 馃煢馃煢馃煢馃煢 馃煪馃煪馃煪馃煪 馃煩馃煩馃煩馃煩
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–which is why we share these pointers every day. Check back tomorrow for the next puzzle!
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