NYT Connections today — hints and answers for Saturday, October 19 (game #496)

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 #496) - today's words

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• PROVOKE
• SOAP
• NETTLE
• CANDLE
• INSULT
• INCENSE
• INSPIRE
• MADDEN
• JELLYFISH
• CIVILIZATION
• PROMPT
• LOTION
• HALO
• GENERATE
• WASP
• METROID

NYT Connections today (game #496) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• Yellow: Make it happen
• Green: Smells good
• Blue: Ouch!
• Purple: Console yourself

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 #496) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: BRING ABOUT
• GREEN: THINGS THAT ARE OFTEN SCENTED
• BLUE: THINGS THAT MIGHT STING
• PURPLE: VIDEO GAME FRANCHISES

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

NYT Connections today (game #496) - the answers

The answers to today's Connections, game #496, are…

• YELLOW: BRING ABOUT GENERATE, INSPIRE, PROMPT, PROVOKE
• GREEN: THINGS THAT ARE OFTEN SCENTED CANDLE, INCENSE, LOTION, SOAP
• BLUE: THINGS THAT MIGHT STING INSULT, JELLYFISH, NETTLE, WASP
• PURPLE: VIDEO GAME FRANCHISES CIVILIZATION, HALO, MADDEN, METROID

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

I didn't quite manage the reverse rainbow in today's Connections, but that was only because I could decide which was easiest out of BRING ABOUT (yellow) and THINGS THAT ARE OFTEN SCENTED (green). I'm not beating myself up about that, because I'm mainly just pleased that I solved the purple and blue groups first, which is now what I'm trying to do each time.

Admittedly, that's a lot easier when all four puzzles are relatively simple as they are today. If you're not a gamer then purple might cause you some trouble – but I am, so I knew right away that CIVILIZATION, HALO, MADDEN and METROID went together. Blue was fairly obvious for anyone, with THINGS THAT MIGHT STING bringing in INSULT, JELLYFISH, NETTLE and WASP. All rather straightforward, really.

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

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Friday, 18 October, game #495)

• YELLOW: CLUNKER BUST, DUD, FLOP, MISS
• GREEN: OPPORTUNITY CHANCE, SHOT, TIME, TURN
• BLUE: NON-CASH WAY TO PAY CARD, CHARGE, CREDIT, PLASTIC
• PURPLE: AMAZON ___ KINDLE, PRIME, RAINFOREST, RIVER

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.