Looking for today's Connections answer for puzzle #469 from September 22, a little harder than yesterday's answer, this puzzle from Connections Companion has a difficulty rating of 28 out of 5

We update our Connections clues and hints daily And if the hints aren't enough, you can see all four solutions along with the category title and related words In addition, for those of you reading this in another time zone, I have included a reflection on yesterday's puzzle, #468

There are spoilers for connection #469 Only those who want to know the answer to today's connection 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 help you 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 to know the answer, scroll down further

There are even bigger clues And if you end up striking out, you can write your own award letter

Now, what's the answer to today's game #469 Connection?

Drum roll, please

We started off strong today by solving the blue category out of the blue I saw the drawing first, along with the clues connected through the yellow category (more on that later), which reminded me of the Photoshop settings But when I found Lotteries, Pools, and Raffles, I realized that the Connection Crew meant an entirely different kind of drawing

I had already connected grayscale, neutrals, and pastels, so now I was ready to resolve the yellow category After a little searching around I found neons and realized they were all in the color palette

The green category seemed even easier today than the yellow New, Open, Print, Save - all options I've used many times on the computer

That left the purple category as today's memorization fill-in-the-blank This category featured Alloy, Scultpure, Suntan, Third, and a clever play on words regarding the various meanings of “bronze”

Are you reading this late in the day? According to Connections Companion, the difficulty rating was 22 out of 5

The puzzle makes you chuckle when you fall for the obvious traps

Yesterday's was supposed to be an easy yellow, with steak temperatures of Rare, Medium, Well Done, and Bloody, and it hit me Oops

I quickly turned it over to the green category and got Exclusive, Limited, and Rare before adding Collectible

The yellow category was Mystic, Oracle, Psychic, and Medium, from which I easily obtained

The train was rolling and I quickly got impressive, nice, props and well done

Then purple was awful, bloody, real, way and memorizing filling This title very Maybe it's because it's Saturday, but I don't see this I know, but I don't get it