I found today’s puzzle to be an EXERCISE in patience, the kind where you know one of the groups from the first glance but have to wait until the very end to narrow down its members. If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Thursday, November 9, 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 9, NYT Connections #151! 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?
Almost the opposite! If you listen to podcasts, you’ll see a lot of familiar words and phrases. Too many, in fact.
Hints for the themes in today’s Connections puzzle
Here are some spoiler-free hints for the groupings in today’s Connections:
Yellow category - Stay healthy.
Green category - Circle back.
Blue category - We’re listening.
Purple category - We’re laughing.
Does today’s Connections game involve any wordplay?
Just a fill-in-the-blank for purple, and a lot of ambiguous words.
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 farther down.)
What are the ambiguous words in today’s Connections?
WTF is an abbreviation for “what the fuck,” and the name of Marc Maron’s interview podcast.
A SKETCH can be a quick drawing, or a short piece of acting, as in the SKETCHes of Saturday Night Live.
You can COMPOSE a symphony, a poem, or an email.
REPLY ALL and FRESH AIR are both podcasts, but they are also both ordinary phrases you might use in other ways. (Hint, hint.)
You can PROP something up, or you can go on stage and use PROPs in a scene. You can even carry a wacky object on stage for some PROP comedy.
What are the categories in today’s Connections?
Yellow: DOCTORS’ ORDERS
Green: EMAIL ACTIONS
Blue: PODCASTS
Purple: ____ COMEDY
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 DOCTORS’ ORDERS and the words are: DIET, EXERCISE, FRESH AIR, SLEEP.
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 EMAIL ACTIONS and the words are: COMPOSE, FORWARD, REPLY ALL, SEND.
What are the blue words in today’s Connections?
The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is PODCASTS and the words are: RADIOLAB, SERIAL, UP FIRST, WTF.
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 ____ COMEDY and the words are: BLACK, DIVINE, PROP, SKETCH.
How I solved today’s Connections
RADIOLAB and REPLY ALL are podcasts, but REPLY ALL also fits with SEND and FORWARD as email commands. The more I look, the more podcasts I see, like SERIAL (the iconic true crime podcast) and WTF with Marc Maron.
I go with COMPOSE, FORWARD, REPLY ALL, and SEND for email commands, and that’s correct. 🟩 Next I’m thinking about SKETCH comedy, and I put it together with The DIVINE Comedy, BLACK comedy, and PROP comedy. 🟪
It wasn’t until I was looking for a fourth to fill out DIET, SLEEP, and EXERCISE that I realized FRESH AIR was not a podcast either. 🟨 That leaves us listening to WTF, SERIAL, RADIOLAB, and UP FIRST. 🟦
Connections Puzzle #151 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟦🟦🟦🟦
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!