Looking for today's Connections answer for puzzle #463 on September 16, a little harder than yesterday's answer, this puzzle from Connections Companion has a difficulty rating of 32 out of 5

We update our Connections clues and hints daily And if the hints aren't enough, you can see all four answers along with the category title and related words In addition, for those of you reading this in another time zone, I've included a reflection on yesterday's puzzle, #462

There are spoilers for Connections #463 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 help you solve the groupings, here are each theme in order of difficulty:

If you read these hints, you should at least be able to 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

Here's a bigger tip: Don't feel stupid after the weekend: relax and unwind wherever you are

Now, what's the answer to today's game #463, Connection?

Drum roll, please

I struck out first, guessing “Unconventional Toppings on Pizza” with all of today's food-related clues, but quickly recovered by knocking out the yellow category with Chief, Premier, Principal, and Supreme Of course, with the easiest connections out of the way, the pressure was always on for the remaining categories

Next was blue, which involved a bit of blind luck for me, given that I had never heard pap used in that context, and I grouped it with the other categories on a whim I was familiar with the terms Cheese(y), Corn(y), and Mush(y) for sentimental stories, but not Pap Turns out it means “worthless, boring reading, entertainment” What the heck, I learn something new every day

After that, I finished the green category (Cactus, Hedgehog, Mace, and Pineapple) with a quick read, as the connections were revealed in the remaining eight clues Additionally, I saw the trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 over the weekend, so I had a little rodent running around in my head

Finally, the purple categories (Bottles, Graduates, Mushrooms, and Paychecks) tripped me up until the connection became obvious I always stumble on wordplay categories, and this was no different

I'm reading this late in the day According to Connections Companion, the difficulty level was 29 out of 5

Surprisingly, solving the two easier categories was easy yesterday I started with green and quickly solved Decline, Drop, Dwindle, and Ebb

Next was the yellow category, which was also easy to fill with Dwell, Inhabit, Stay, and Live [because Clown, Dweeb, and Turkey were immediately recognizable, but Sap was one half of “sad sap” and did not refer only to what comes from maple trees

That's why purple is rode phil today This was great because I had never heard the word “septet” After all the research, it took another second for the themes to hit me: the seven dwarfs, the seven seas, the seven sins, the seven wonders of the world