NYT Connections today — hints and answers for Friday, September 13 (game #460)

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need clues.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Wordle hints and answers , Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #460) - today's words

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• BEETLE
• JUICE
• ENERGY
• LEVEL
• COW
• PEP
• FOCUS
• BEANS
• ZIP
• JACK
• LIFE
• TENET
• GIANT
• VOLT
• CIVIC
• REFER

NYT Connections today (game #460) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• Yellow: Dynamism
• Green: Reads both ways
• Blue: In a specific fairy tale
• Purple: What are you driving?

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #460) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: VITALITY
• GREEN: PALINDROMES FEATURING “E”
• BLUE: FEATURED IN “JACK AND THE BEANSTALK”
• PURPLE: CAR MODELS

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #460) - the answers

The answers to today's Connections, game #460, are…

• YELLOW: VITALITY ENERGY, JUICE, LIFE, ZIP
• GREEN: PALINDROMES FEATURING “E” LEVEL, PEP, REFER, TENET
• BLUE: FEATURED IN “JACK AND THE BEANSTALK” BEANS, COW, GIANT, JACK
• PURPLE: CAR MODELS BEETLE, CIVIC, FOCUS, VOLT

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

Is it just me or has Connections got a lot easier lately? I don't feel like I'm doing anything different, but after multiple failures over a two-to-three-week period I've now beaten eight in a row. And today's might be the simplest of them.

The only one I didn't solve was green – PALINDROMES FEATURING “E”. I'm surprised this was the green group, because it's harder than either blue or purple, and they are meant to be in difficulty order. I guess finding CAR MODELS (purple) might be tricky if you're not a driver, but they're all generally well known. And as for blue… is there anyone on the planet who wouldn't spot that the BEANS, COW, GIANT and JACK go together?

Not that I'm complaining – it's nice to actually feel like I'm good at this game!

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Thursday, 12 September, game #459)

• YELLOW: MARK ONLINE FOR LATER BOOKMARK, FAVORITE, LIKE, SAVE
• GREEN: BEHALF ADVANTAGE, BENEFIT, INTEREST, SAKE
• BLUE: NBA LEGENDS, FAMILIARLY BIRD, CURRY, KOBE, MAGIC
• PURPLE: ENDING WITH GREEK LETTERS BIOTA, FETA, MOCHI, PEPSI

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.