Looking for today's Connections answer for puzzle #513 on November 5, a little harder than yesterday's puzzle, this puzzle from the Connections Companion has a difficulty rating of 3 out of 5.

We update our Connections clues and hints daily. And if the hints aren't enough for you, here are four more 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, #512.

There are spoilers for connection 513. Only read this if you want to know the answer to today's connection.

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 only want the answer, scroll down further.

There is a bigger clue. Ignore all of Mario's impulses and follow the fuzzy shell while watching Shrek, and let the magic happen.

Now, what's the answer to today's game #513 Connection?

Drum roll please.

I guarantee I spent too much time making the Super Mario Bros. group happen.

However, my first shot was to go for the yellow category with all the fuzzy-looking stuff: 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 the 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, I complained about the nut shells because, unlike the others, nut shells are not colloquially referred to in the same way. They stick out.

I concluded the blue category for the day as “figures” from the movie Shrek, donkeys, dragons, ogres, and princesses. This group makes total sense, but I was snickering at it in a bare-bones way. But it is mostly my desire that the categories be something they are not.

Are you reading this late in the day? According to Connections Companion, the difficulty level was 2.8 out of 5.

Alyce stumbled to solve the purple category first, but not before striking out three times trying to connect ego and id with other words she learned in Psych 101. It was a trap, after all, and she fell for it. Instead of thinking about Kant, she should have looked more closely at Kant and what she was missing. I thought the Connection Crew would never do something so diabolical. ...... I was wrong.

As a result, only Ego remained, connecting with other self-centered words she had tried before, such as Being, Character, and Self, which concludes the green category.

Alizée almost tried Vanity in that category, but she stopped at the last minute when she realized that Wardrobe remained yet another clue. As for the furniture, the chest and console were immediately recognizable.

That left Furnish, Outfit, Provision, and Stock as the easiest categories to memorize today.