Looking for today's Connections answer for puzzle #448 from September 1, the Connections answer is a little harder than yesterday's answer This puzzle from the Connections Companion has a difficulty rating of 34 out of 5

We update our Connections clues and hints daily And if the hints are not 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, #447

There are spoilers for Connections #448 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 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 If you have an eye for art, an ear for music, and a stomach for barbecued meat, today's puzzle should be easy

Now, what's the answer to today's game #448 Connection?

Drum roll please

When solving connection puzzles, taking the yellow category first is a double-edged sword This is because it only gets harder from here on out, and there is no category to go back to

Next we find the blue category Charcoal and crow are both black, and after a few strikes I stumbled upon Jet and Sable

Next up was the green category I knew Ear Canal and Ear Drum, but Hammer and Anvil were new to me But it made more sense than any of the answers in the purple category, so I figured it was worth a try and got lucky

“I had no idea how the golf bag, limousine, movie set, and toolbox were connected, because I had no idea how they were connected

Are you reading this late in the day? According to Connections Companion, the difficulty level was 29 out of 5

Friday's 39 was one of the hardest puzzles I've solved in a while, but I was able to finish it On Saturday, it dropped to 29 and was a struggle

First, the salad was Chef, Garden, Greek, and Wedge, which felt yellow or green but was rated blue

Next, I found the green category, which consisted of trees with bark, crown, rings, and roots

This led to a yellow category for the newspaper section, which included arts, business, comics, and sports It is perhaps embarrassing that I, who worked for a newspaper and followed the industry regularly, did not notice this Oh well

I spent a lot of time trying to understand Monticello with this puzzle, but it never occurred to me why Thomas Jefferson's slave plantation was here Turns out it's one of the symbols on the back of a US coin, with the addition of an eagle, shield, and torch