Looking for the answer to today's Connections puzzle, #476, from September 29, one of the hardest puzzles we've seen in a while The Connections companion rated this puzzle 45 out of 5 for difficulty

We update our Connections hints and tips daily And if the hints aren't enough, see the four answers below, along with the category title and related words In addition, for those of you reading this in a different time zone, I have included a reflection on yesterday's puzzle, #475

There are spoilers for Connections #476 Only those who want to know the answer to today's Connections should read on

Alternatively, see our NYT Connections How to Play Guide for tips on how to solve the puzzle without our help

While today's wordle solution guide recommends the best wordle starting words as a strategy, the Connections solution depends on identifying the categories that are connected from the 16 words The difficulty of each category is represented by a color, with yellow being the easiest grouping and purple the most difficult Hints are helpful as the answer is displayed after four wrong guesses

If you need a hint to solve the groupings, here are each theme in order of difficulty:

If you read these hints, you should at least find the answer to today's connection If not, please continue reading for larger hints Also, if you only want the answer, scroll down further

There is a bigger clue In today's puzzle, think about poker tables, cuddling in bed, and government representatives keeping their promises

Now for the answer to today's game #476, Connections

Drum roll please

Today's difficulty level of 45 was a discouraging start, but we quickly got the green category with blankets, shampoo, sheets, and throws

Next came the purple category At first I thought honor and judiciary might be related, but in the absence of other clues to court positions, my news-addled senses kicked in and I chose energy, labor, and state as the other federal departments alongside judiciary

Then there was the easiest category, yellow, with fullfill, honor, keep, and uphold

Only blue remained to fill in the holes for memorization, and even then, all the clues were related to the card game, so the relevance could be deduced This puzzle was one of the most difficult I have ever seen, and it was truly embarrassing when I stumbled on an easy problem

I'm reading this late in the day According to Connections Companion, the difficulty level was 42 out of 5

It took a while, but I started by grabbing hybrids and crosses in yellow, which led to blends However, I was still dragging a bit from my initial strike when I tried a compound inspired by hotels, houses, cruises, and vacation rentals So I left it as is for the right answer

The nice thing about purple is that a surprising number of the most difficult grouping categories are just XXX [word] or [word]XXX

If you get stuck, try adding words or creating phrases and you may find purple That's what happened yesterday At some point I got to cruise control (especially since cruise ship was clearly out), and from there the other three words clicked quickly: birth, quality, and remote

I still wasn't sure about the last two, but lodge, plant, stick, and wedge seemed like safe bets However, I was still in the building mindset, thinking lodge and plant

Thus, yesterday I ended up sorting the Monopoly boxes into the blue categories of hotel, house, deed, and token I would never have gotten there organically One infamous story in my family is when I thought I was done with that awful game and sold all my property and items, moved my tokens to the middle of the board and “retired” in the middle of the board I recommend