NYT Connections hints and answers for Sunday, October 5

Hey there, Connectors! I haven’t said this yet, but it’s relevant to today’s GIF: Happy Taylor Alison Swift album release weekend!

As you might have gathered from yesterday’s column, I don’t usually sleep very well. One thing that does help me to drift off, though, is some soothing music. Something I’ve found that does the trick is lullaby versions of songs I like.

There are a few entitles that have churned these out over the last decade plus, such as Rockabye Baby and Twinkle Twinkle Little Rock Star. The latter has pumped out 150+ albums of various artists’ music. I don’t really know anything about either of these brands, and I’d love to know more about the people behind them (maybe I should do some damn journalism and find out for a story someday!).

I find it very funny that they’ve turned music by the likes of Limp Bizkit, Rammstein, Babymetal, Queens of the Stone Age, Black Sabbath and so many more artists into lullabies for toddlers that also work for me. Still waiting on that album of Electric Callboy lullabies, though.

Before we begin, we have a great little community on Discord, where we chat about NYT Connections, the rest of the NYT games and all kinds of other stuff. Everyone who has joined has been lovely. It’s a fun hangout spot, and you’re more than welcome to join us.

Discord is also the best way to give me any feedback about the column, especially on the rare (or not-so-rare) occasions that I mess something up. I don’t look at Twitter much.

Today’s NYT Connections hints and answers for Sunday, October 5 are coming right up.

What Are Today’s Connections Hints?

Scroll slowly! Just after the hints for each of today’s Connections groups, I’ll reveal what the groups are without immediately telling you which words go into them.

Today’s 16 words are...

• BUMPER

• POT

• FROZEN

• WATER

• SHOCK

• HOLIDAY

• SPORTS

• FLOOR

• GETAWAY

• SOIL

• ROCK

• MUSIC

• CHERISH

• CLOWN

• SEED

• SHAKE

And the level one hints for today’s Connections groups are:

• 🟨 Yellow group — essentials for helping to foster a certain type of lifeform at home

• 🟩 Green group — you're never gonna believe this

• 🟦 Blue group — like borderline, secret and celebration

• 🟪 Purple group — stock, rally and bond would all fit in here

One Word For Each Connections Group

Need some extra help? 

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

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

Today’s Connections word hints are…

• 🟨 Yellow group — SOIL

• 🟩 Green group — ROCK

• 🟦 Blue group — FROZEN

• 🟪 Purple group — SPORTS

What Are Today’s Connections Groups?

Today’s Connections groups are...

• 🟨 Yellow group — used to grow a houseplant

• 🟩 Green group — flabbergast

• 🟦 Blue group — Madonna songs

• 🟪 Purple group — _____ car

What Are Today’s Connections Answers?

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

This is your final warning!

Today’s Connections answers are...

• 🟨 Yellow group — used to grow a houseplant (POT, SEED, SOIL, WATER)

• 🟩 Green group — flabbergast (FLOOR, ROCK, SHAKE, SHOCK)

• 🟦 Blue group — Madonna songs (CHERISH, FROZEN, HOLIDAY, MUSIC)

• 🟪 Purple group — _____ car (BUMPER, CLOWN, GETAWAY, SPORTS)

Maaaaan, I mentioned in Discord just the other day how much I hate CLOWNs after that word was mentioned in Strands and now I have to deal with it in Connections too? Gross.

I got the yellows right away and immediately felt guilty about my dying houseplants. I should replace them with several pothos plants from the flower seller that's close to my place very soon.

The greens were up next. Pretty straightforward synonyms, I'd say.

At that point, the purples jumped out at me. No issues there this time. Just don't expect to see me in a BUMPER car anytime soon. Having people ram into me is not my idea of a great time at this stage of my life!

I thought I'd have a little fun with the hint and try to make it both helpful and a red herring by using a trio of financial terms. James Bond does drive very nice cars. (Yes, I looked up a financial dictionary to find a third word that would fit. No, you can't be mad at me.)

Finally, I'm annoyed I got the blues by default! I can't say I know "CHERISH" off the top of my head, but I do like the other three songs.

In any case, that's 219 wins on the spin for me:

🟨🟨🟨🟨 
🟦🟦🟦🟦 
🟪🟪🟪🟪 
🟩🟩🟩🟩

That’s all there is to it for today’s Connections clues and answers. I’ll be back over at Forbes for the Monday-Friday editions for the column. And if you haven’t subscribed to Pastimes already, definitely do that! It would be super sweet of you.

P.S. Instead of a song today, I want to recommend something from Britany Robinson, a thoughtful writer whose work I enjoy reading very much. Her piece titled "Write a little spider web" really resonated with me.

It's about watching the Global Sumud Flotilla and admiring the bravery of the humanitarians involved from afar. It's also about advocating for truth amid a maelstrom of lies and misinformation.

While Robinson's newsletter is largely intended for writers, I think the underlying message in this piece about the power of community and collective action is an important one we can all take to heart.

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

On weekdays, you can find this column over at Forbes. Please follow my blog there for more coverage of NYT Connections and other word games, and even some video game news, insights and analysis. It helps me out a lot!

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