Welcome to the weekend, puzzlers! There’s plenty of great stuff to do on this first Saturday of October that doesn’t involve consuming pumpkin spice anything. (Because, really, it’s kind of played out, and it doesn’t taste that good.) You could go see Joker: Folie à Deux, but apparently that’s also kind of played out, and it doesn’t sound that good. Luckily, there are some much better Gotham-set films you can return to after that one.
In the meantime, your daily sweet 16 words are back and ready for your best grouping efforts. The popular Connections brainbuster from The New York Times has four groups of words with a shared theme or commonality, but they’re shuffled into random order for you to figure out. Remember to take your time—many words have multiple meanings, so think twice before you click.
Today’s words: JACUZZI, BIKINI, HANGER, X-RAY, Q-TIP, TOOTHBRUSH, G-STRING, CHAPSTICK, T-BONE, XEROX, HIPSTER, SKIRT, DRILL, FLEET, SINK, and THONG
Above is your visual hint for today’s yellow group. Maybe it’s right on the money for you? If you’re still scratching your head, well, hate to tell you, but yellow is the easiest group.
Need a verbal clue? This isn’t a rare category. We’d say it’s medium difficulty. And if you nail it on the first try, well done!
Tapping out? It’s not nice of the Times to hit us with this meaty category on an empty stomach, because now we’re going to be hungry all day.
Today’s yellow group answer is Steak Cuts and its words are FILET, HANGER, SKIRT, and T-BONE.
There’s your visual hint for today’s blue group. It might be your eureka! moment. (No, sorry, that was not a clue.) Or it might not have helped at all. Hey, we try.
Time for the verbal clue: Other words here could be PAIN, FEAR, and ANXIETY…if you’re a chicken like we are. But filling this one wasn’t exactly like pulling teeth.
No? That verbal cue should have gotten you all the way there. Now, rinse and spit, please…
Today’s blue group answer is Involved in a Dentist Visit and its words are DRILL, SINK, TOOTHBRUSH, and X-RAY.
We’re going to go out on a limb and say this is a pretty powerful visual clue. Will it get you to the finish line? That’s the catch — you still have to find the right words.
Need the verbal clue too? How about a word that would not fit here, like COMMANDO? You shouldn’t not have to dig too deep in your mental drawers for the answer.
Give up? This one was a little below the belt, but not much. And it gives you a wide selection of some frankly uncomfortable-sounding options. (You spend all day picking it outta there, why would you put it up there on purpose?)
Today’s green group answer is Kinds of Underwear and its words are BIKINI, G-STRING, HIPSTER, and THONG.
The purple group is the hardest one, so don’t kick yourself if this visual hint does not immediately take you to the promised land.
Here’s your verbal clue: These somehow always surprise us. So do Dumpster, Band-Aid, and Thermos. You didn’t know either?
Crying uncle? We love these because we spend the rest of the day trying to come up with other ones. Like Google, Bubble Wrap, Escalator …
Today’s purple group answer is Brands That Have Become Generic Terms and its words are CHAPSTICK, JACUZZI, Q-TIP, and XEROX.
We’ll see if the Times takes it easier on us tomorrow—check back then and find out!
