Note : Make sure to complete today’s NYT Connections before reading further! We’ll be getting into spoilers for today’s game pretty quickly. If you need some help to complete the grid, you can find my NYT Connections hints and answers column for today via my author page .

Hey there, Connectors! Welcome to my deeper dive into today’s Connections answers. The idea behind this is to help clear things up for anyone who isn’t sure how today’s groups fit together.

If I’ve missed any red herrings or misunderstood something, let me know via email or on Discord . I don’t typically look at X or check the comments here.

I’m going to assume that you’ve already beaten today’s game. We’re going straight into spoiler territory here. So, consider this your one and only warning .

Here are today’s NYT Connections answers explained (and any red herrings I spot) for Thursday, September 24:

Today’s NYT Connections Answers Explained

Connections – Yellow Group

🟨 parts of a vampire costume (CAPE, FACE PAINT, FAKE BLOOD, FANGS)

Nothing too complicated here. Just parts of a classic Halloween costume. Here’s an example without the FAKE BLOOD:

Connections – Green Group

🟩 things with spring/s (BOBBLEHEAD, POGO STICK, SNAKES IN A CAN, TRAMPOLINE)

Again, fairly straightforward. A BOBBLEHEAD is a small figurine with a head that bobbles:

SNAKES IN A CAN is a classic prank. A can that appears to contain something else (typically nuts) actually uses a spring to launch a piece of cloth that might be painted to look like snake skin:

🟦 featuring pointing (CREATION OF ADAM, FOAM FINGER, I’M WITH STUPID SHIRT, UNCLE SAM)

The CREATION OF ADAM is a Michealangelo painting that’s on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. It depicts God and Adam touching their index or pointer fingers together:

A FOAM FINGER is a common sight at sports games. It’s used to show support for a team:

An I’M WITH STUPID SHIRT is a novelty item that typically features an arrow or hand pointing to one side. The idea is to indicate that the person accompanying the wearer is a fool:

UNCLE SAM is an emblem of the U.S. or its government that often appears in military propaganda. The character famously featured in a military recruitment campaign that urged people to join the Army and “pointed” at the observer:

Connections – Purple Group

🟪 anagrams (BEER HAT, BREATHE, HERB TEA, THE BEAR)

Straightforward enough here.

Connections – Red Herrings

I think there were a couple of possible red herrings at play today. We had classic pranks with FAKE BLOOD, SNAKES IN A CAN and I’M WITH STUPID SHIRT.

There were also symbols of U.S. sports games with BEER HAT, FOAM FINGER, BOBBLEHEAD (a common giveaway item at such events) and FACE PAINT:

If you’d like to chat about today’s game of Connections and just about anything else with me and a very lovely group of people, you can do just that in our Discord community . We’d love for you to hang out with us.

I’ll be back with another set of NYT Connections hints and answers tomorrow, as well as another edition of this one, all going well. You’ll be able to find both of those on my Forbes author page when the time comes (following me there helps me out too!). As for the weekend editions of my NYT Connections hints and answers column, I’m currently doing that via my newsletter, Pastimes .