Looking for today's Connections answer for Puzzle No 446 on August 30, the difficulty of this puzzle from the Connections Companion was 39 out of 5, a jump in difficulty compared to yesterday's answer

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 a different time zone, I have included a reflection on yesterday's puzzle, #445

There are spoilers for Connections #446 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

The bigger hint is to get shiny with a cold feast before you remember the sports you just watched in Paris, before you remember the great buildings of antiquity

Now for the answer to today's 446th game connection

Drum roll please

I don't think I've seen a puzzle marked as difficulty 4 or 5 since I started making this Connections Guide Today's 39 is the best I've seen Let's get there

I always feel bad when I get the yellow category first, as I did today, in the difficult Connections puzzles Anyway, today's yellow shined with diamonds, glitter, gold, and sequins

After finding the green category third, the blue was actually easier to find today However, I wasn't thinking of the wonders of the ancient world, as I found gardens, lighthouses, pyramids, and temples So I'm not that far off

I got stuck on cubes, columns, and boxes and was trying to find a connection to math, so I got a couple of strikes here

A little late for the Olympics, but the Paralympics just started It seemed more difficult than the blue category

The purple row felt surprisingly obvious once I came across (ice)cream, (ice)cube, (ice)machine, and (ice)storm Frankly, I feel like I should have gotten that one sooner rather than getting bogged down in the green category

I don't know if this 39 felt harder than the other puzzles in the Connection, but it gave me pause But I wonder about the difficulty level of 4 and 5

I'm reading this late in the day According to the Connections Companion, this is the Connections solution to game #445, which had a difficulty level of 3 out of 5

As I mentioned before, it is satisfying to be able to go through the categories

Today I started with electronic pianos, grand pianos, player pianos, and upright pianos

I took strikes on the green, trying to make the title work with counts, judges, dukes, and admittedly, no bulls This strike allowed me to stick with the count and judge and quickly add CONSIDER and REGARD

College was early Brown, Duke, Howard, Smith [I was thinking of Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble, but had never heard of Noble & Cooley or Young & Co Noble & Cooley is a musical instrument manufacturer known for its drum sets Young may be Ernst & Young So, at the end of the day, it was good that purple was the fill for memorization