If you’re looking for the September 22 Connections hints and answers, we’ve got you covered right here:

It’s Wednesday, and you know what that means: it’s time for another round of Connections !

I’m gonna keep this intro short and sweet. If there’s something you’ve been meaning to do that you’re fairly sure will bring you joy and won’t harm yourself or anyone else, do it as soon as you can. You owe it to yourself.

Before we start, we’ve got a lovely community on Discord , where we chat about Connections , the rest of the NYT games and all kinds of things. You’re more than welcome to join us!

Also, my weekend editions of this column are available over on my newsletter, Pastimes . I sometimes write about other things that are on my mind there as well.

Today’s NYT Connections hints and answers for Wednesday, September 23 are coming right up. Let’s get rolling!

Connections is a free New York Times daily word game that you can play on the NYT ’s website or Games app. If you have an NYT All Access or Games subscription, you can access the Connections archive, which includes every previous game.

Connections presents you with a grid of 16 words (sometimes phrases, symbols or numbers). The aim is to arrange them into four groups of four. You don’t know how they hit together or what the category for each group is: that’s what you have to figure out.

There’s only one correct solution and there are often red herrings. You can guess incorrectly three times. A fourth wrong guess, and it’s game over.

Each group is color coded. The yellow group is usually the easiest to deduce, followed by green, blue and purple. Often, the yellow and green groups have synonyms, the blues have cultural references and the purples have some kind of wordplay involved. But this is not a hard and fast rule. Be ready for curveballs – part of the fun of Connections is in how the NYT shakes things up to keep you on your toes.

As with Wordle and similar games, it’s easy to share results with your friends using an emoji-based grid. The game tracks your progress too.

Many players take pride in having long win streaks or getting a reverse rainbow – correctly guessing the purple, blue, green and yellow groups in that order with no mistakes. That adds an extra little challenge.

Today’s NYT Connections Word List

After today’s Connections word list, I’ll give you a hint for each category. After that, I’ll reveal one word that goes into each group. Then I’ll reveal the categories, followed by the full answers.

  • PAINT
  • CAPTCHA
  • BITCOIN
  • WALLET
  • SPAM
  • PHONE
  • RECORD LABEL
  • AGE VERIFICATION
  • SURINAME
  • PAYWALL
  • CONDENSED MILK
  • RUB-A-DUB
  • KEYS
  • SHAVING CREAM
  • COOKIE CONSENT
  • SUNGLASSES

Today’s NYT Connections Hints

The hints for today’s Connections categories are:

  • 🟨 Yellow group — don’t leave them behind!
  • 🟩 Green group — internet impediments
  • 🟦 Blue group — they’ll stay good for quite a while
  • 🟪 Purple group — we’ll eventually figure out what to call it

One Answer For Each NYT Connections Group

Be warned: we’re starting to get into spoiler territory.

Let’s take a look at one answer for each group.

  • 🟨 Yellow group — PHONE
  • 🟩 Green group — PAYWALL
  • 🟦 Blue group — PAINT
  • 🟪 Purple group — SURINAME

Today’s NYT Connections Categories

Today’s Connections groups are...

  • 🟨 Yellow group — things you grab before leaving the house
  • 🟩 Green group — website hurdles
  • 🟦 Blue group — things that come in cans
  • 🟪 Purple group — ending in synonyms of “term”

Today’s NYT Connections Answer

Spoiler alert! Don’t scroll any further down the page until you’re ready to find out today’s Connections answers.

This is your last chance to look away.

This is your final warning!

Today’s Connections answers are...

  • 🟨 Yellow group — things you grab before leaving the house (KEYS, PHONE, SUNGLASSES, WALLET)
  • 🟩 Green group — website hurdles (AGE VERIFICATION, CAPTCHA, COOKIE CONSENT, PAYWALL)
  • 🟦 Blue group — things that come in cans (CONDENSED MILK, PAINT, SHAVING CREAM, SPAM)
  • 🟪 Purple group — ending in synonyms of “term” (BITCOIN, RECORD LABEL, RUB-A-DUB, SURINAME)

I got the greens right away. Some of those are exceedingly irritating, such as COOKIE CONSENT pop-ups (I almost always reject all unessential cookies). Others are primarily vectors for surveillance , like AGE VERIFICATION.

SPAM and CONDENSED MILK led me into the blues. I thought they’d be the yellows. I did get the yellows next, though. I suspected they’d be things you find in your pocket, so I was a little off there.

There was really only one thing SURINAME could refer to at that point, so I figured out the purple category (coin, label, dub and name) before submitting that group.

Not the toughest game we’ve had for a -00 edition of Connections. Still, I was happy to get my 570th consecutive win on the board.

How did you get on this time? Here’s my grid:

Be sure to check my blog for hints and the answer for tomorrow’s game of Connections if you need them.

P.S. I missed that Ivri had a new EP out. I really liked her album from last year, The Theory of You . She’s leaning more into alt rock in this EP ( Evidence of You ) while still retaining her bedroom pop elements. There are glitchy sounds and drum-and-bass beats too.

I dig the whole thing, but today I’m going with “Unrecognizable.” It’s maybe the most straightforward rock song on the EP. It’s shoegazy and introspective and I like it a lot:

Have a great day! Stay hydrated! Be kind to yourself and each other! Call someone you love!

Please follow my blog for more NYT Connections hints and help with other word games, and even some video game news, insights and analysis. I’d really appreciate that as it helps me out. If you share this column with others who play Connections, that would be lovely too. You can also read my weekend editions of this column and more of my writing at my newsletter, Pastimes .