Looking for today's Connections answer for puzzle #514 from November 6, the Connections companion is much easier than yesterday's puzzle. The difficulty level for this puzzle from the Connections companion is 2.4 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 another time zone, I have included a reflection on yesterday's puzzle, #513.

There are spoilers for connection 514. Only those who want to know the answer to today's connection should read on.

Or 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 just want the answer, scroll down further.

Here's a bigger clue.

Now, what is the answer to today's Round 513 connection?

Drum roll please.

I'll be brief today.

Blue, grab CORRESPOND, MESSAGE, TEXT, WRITE and start.

From there, green was easy with different, new, novel, original.

I must be old because my thoughts were VCR buttons, not DVR, which in any case included pause, play, record, stop.

We ended up with purple, featuring bipeds, furniture, poetry, and yardsticks.

I would like to note that the New York Times' tech guild went on strike. The Tech Guild is made up of NY Times staffers, including software engineers and data analysts, who are responsible for the back end of NYT games, recipes, podcasts, election bulletins, etc.

Members of the guild are asking people to support the strike by not playing NYT games. If you prefer not to cross the picket line, there is a strike version of Connections.

They appear to be posting the same version of Connections and will be visiting that site until the strike is over.

Whatever you do with this information is your business.

Are you reading this late in the day? According to the Connections Companion, the Connections answer for game #513, which had a difficulty level of 3 out of 5, is as follows.

I guarantee you that I spent too much time trying to make the Super Mario Bros. group happen.

However, my first shot was to go for the yellow category with potentially hairy things like caterpillars, fleece, and pipe cleaners. And then I put in carpet. Nope. They were looking for peaches. I shook my fist at the connection.

Shortly thereafter, I got magic markers and magic mushrooms. The Magic Carpet was easy, but the Magic Kingdom took a second to click.

From there, I went green with clam shells, egg shells, turtle shells, and nut shells. Despite the shells, he complained about the nut shells because, unlike the others, nut shells are not colloquially referred to in the same way. They stick out.

I chose the blue category for the day to be the “figures” from the movie Shrek, donkeys, dragons, ogres, and princesses. This grouping makes total sense, but I was snorting at it with a bare minimum. But it is mostly my desire that the categories be something they are not.