NYT Connections today — hints and answers for Tuesday, October 22 (game #499)

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.

Your Connections expert

NYT Connections today (game #499) - today's words

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• DESIGNER
• ENGINEER
• HATCH
• TAG
• GALILEO
• MARCO POLO
• MASTERMIND
• VIKING
• BINGO
• PIONEER
• LUXURY
• CONCOCT
• HAUTE
• VOYAGER
• UNO
• HIGH-END

NYT Connections today (game #499) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• Yellow: Check the label
• Green: Come up with a plan
• Blue: For all mankind
• Purple: The clue's in the name

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 #499) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: BRAND-NAME
• GREEN: DEVISE
• BLUE: NASA SPACECRAFT
• PURPLE: GAMES WHERE YOU SAY THE GAME’S NAME

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

NYT Connections today (game #499) - the answers

The answers to today's Connections, game #499, are…

• YELLOW: BRAND-NAME DESIGNER, HAUTE, HIGH-END, LUXURY
• GREEN: DEVISE CONCOCT, ENGINEER, HATCH, MASTERMIND
• BLUE: NASA SPACECRAFT GALILEO, PIONEER, VIKING, VOYAGER
• PURPLE: GAMES WHERE YOU SAY THE GAME’S NAME BINGO, MARCO POLO, TAG, UNO

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

There are days when the NYT's difficulty scale for Connections seems a little off. It's all a matter of opinion, of course; one person's impossible-to-solve group could be someone else's cakewalk. But today I felt like all four were roughly the same toughness, and the supposedly worst one, GAMES WHERE YOU SAY THE GAME’S NAME, was one of the easiest.

Not that I got the connection as such – and indeed, it was the one I solved by default – but I could clearly see that all four were games, and the fact that they were specifically games where you say the name wasn't really enough to obfuscate matters. After all, the only red herring was MASTERMIND, and that went nicely into the green group anyway.

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

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Monday, 21 October, game #498)

• YELLOW: KINDS OF BEANS KIDNEY, MUNG, NAVY, PINTO
• GREEN: ATTRACT DRAW, GRAB, HOOK, PULL
• BLUE: AUTOMATIC GEAR SHIFTER POSITIONS DRIVE, LOW, NEUTRAL, REVERSE
• PURPLE: ___POOL CAR, DEAD, LIVER, WHIRL

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.