NYT Connections today — hints and answers for Saturday, November 23 (game #531)

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.

Today’s NYT Connections words are…

  • BALL-IN-CUP
  • BALANCE SHEET
  • LATEX
  • LOLLIPOP
  • ACCOUNT
  • CHECKERS
  • COTTON SWAB
  • LICORICE
  • GUM
  • CORN DOG
  • STORY
  • SAP
  • CHRONICLE
  • RESIN
  • ROULETTE
  • DESCRIPTION

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

  • Yellow: That’s how it went
  • Green: Plant juices?
  • Blue: Candy apple could be another
  • Purple: Two-color things

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…

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

  • YELLOW: TELLING OF EVENTS
  • GREEN: SECRETED BY TREES
  • BLUE: THINGS ON STICKS
  • PURPLE: BLACK OR RED

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

The answers to today’s Connections, game #531, are…

  • YELLOW: TELLING OF EVENTS ACCOUNT, CHRONICLE, DESCRIPTION, STORY
  • GREEN: SECRETED BY TREES GUM, LATEX, RESIN, SAP
  • BLUE: THINGS ON STICKS BALL-IN-CUP, CORN DOG, COTTON SWAB, LOLLIPOP
  • PURPLE: BLACK OR RED BALANCE SHEET, CHECKERS, LICORICE, ROULETTE

  • My rating: Easy
  • My score: 1 mistake

This was a surprisingly easy Connections game, given that when I first looked at it I was completely nonplussed. None of the words seemed remotely related, although in hindsight I should have spotted yellow – TELLING OF EVENTS – right away, given that it’s a simple collection of synonyms. As it was, that was the group I solved by default without even needing to think about it, although frankly I would have got it myself by that stage anyway.

The key here was in getting blue, THINGS ON STICKS, first. Blue is supposedly the second most difficult of the four, and on the days when I get that early I tend to fly through the puzzle without too many issues. And so it was here, with BALL-IN-CUP, CORN DOG, COTTON SWAB and LOLLIPOP relatively obvious examples of stick-based things once I thought about it a little.

I did make one mistake on green, SECRETED BY TREES, because I was tripped up by LICORICE. This is of course a root of some kind (I’m no expert), so sort of tree-related, but not secreted by them. The one I needed was LATEX, which I thought was a human-made thing but which is (I presume) based on rubber. The others were GUM, RESIN and SAP, which were more obvious. LICORICE instead went with the rather fun purple group, BLACK OR RED, although I don’t know if it strictly belongs there, given that you can get licorice in all kinds of colors, right? And what about the ones that have a kind of multicolored sandwich with pink and yellow? Anyway, it was obvious enough by that stage, so I notched my streak up to the heady heights of two. Hurrah!

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


  • YELLOW: PUBLICITY ATTENTION, COVERAGE, EXPOSURE, PRESS
  • GREEN: POINT OF VIEW ANGLE, LENS, PERSPECTIVE, POSITION
  • BLUE: WORK COMMUNICATION PLATFORMS MEET, SLACK, TEAMS, ZOOM
  • PURPLE: “___ ISLAND” FANTASY, LOVE, SHUTTER, TREASURE

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