Looking for today's Connections answers? The Connections answers on September 26 for puzzle #473 takes a dip in difficulty compared to yesterday's answers, with the Connections Companion rating this puzzle's difficulty at 2.6 out of 5.
Every day, we update this article with Connections hints and tips to help you find all 4 of today's answers. And if the hints aren't enough, you'll find all 4 answers below, with the category titles and the correlating words. Plus, we're including a reflection on yesterday's puzzle, #472, in case you're reading this in a different time zone.
Spoilers lie ahead for Connections #473. Only read on if you want to know today's Connections answers.
Alternatively, visit our how to play NYT Connections guide for tips on how to solve the puzzle without our help.
Today's Connections answer — hints to help you solve it
Unlike our guide to today's Wordle answer, where we recommend the best Wordle start words as your strategy, solving Connections relies on identifying connecting categories among 16 words. Each category's difficulty level is represented by a color; yellow is the easiest grouping, and purple is the most challenging. Once you've made 4 mistakes in your guesses, the answers will be revealed, so hints can be helpful.
If you need hints to solve the groupings, then here are the themes of each, based on the order of difficulty:
- 🟨 Yellow: Decorative edge
- 🟩 Green: Increase, in a way
- 🟦 Blue: Specifications for a bartender
- 🟪 Purple: String ____
These hints should get you at least some of the way towards finding today's Connections answers. If not, then you can read on for bigger clues; or, if you just want to know the answer, then scroll down further.
Here's a larger hint: Add some strings before ordering your next drink at the bar. Increase the edges from there.
Today's Connections answers
So, what are today's Connections answers for game #473?
Drumroll, please...
- 🟨 Decorative Edge: Border, frill, fringe, trim
- 🟩 Increase, in a way: Grow, mount, swell, wax
- 🟦 Specifications for a bartender: Dry, neat, straight, virgin
- 🟪 String _____: Bean, bikini, cheese, theory
Not going to lie, I stared at this grid for a long time before finding the answers.
I rarely use the shuffle feature, mostly because I don't always find it helpful. Today, it saved my bacon.
The shuffle dropped theory and bean next to each other. This got me to (String) Theory and (String) bean. Bikini was nearby and I had to hunt down cheese from there.
At one point in my staring, I had dry, neat and virgin and for some reason never saw straight. I found it this time and knocked down blue.
And then I stared again. Today was not clicking.
I took some strikes trying to put trim, fringe, wax and frill together before finally admitting to border, frill, fringe and trim.
Which left me with green's grow, mount, swell and wax. I got hit with a definition here forgetting that technically waxing does mean to grow or increase. Hence the waxing moon.
Some days the puzzle flows like spice in Dune. Today, it was banging the head against the wall waiting for my brain to make connections I couldn't see.
Yesterday's Connections answers
Reading this in a later time zone? Here are the Connections answers for game #472, which had a difficulty rating of 3 out of 5, according to the Connections Companion.
I struggled yesterday, but despite being the same difficulty score, today was much easier.
We kicked it off with hat trick which quickly led me to other 3-based sporting achievements, threepeat, trifecta, triple crown. The threepeat is interesting because of the big 5 sports it hasn't really been done outside of the ongoing travesty that is Man City in the Premiere League. Yes, I'm a fan of another team in the Premiere, why do you ask?
Sticking with sports, I saw soap box and home run next to each other. I did take a couple of strikes trying to get roller derby in as a thing. But wised up and took Kentucky and demolition.
Which lead me to the green category of roller, drop cloth, paint and tape.
We rounded it out with blue, which was fun with (London) Broil, (Philly) Cheesesteak, (Brussell) sprouts, and (Buffalo) wings in foods named after cities.
