Need a nudge to keep your streak alive in today’s Connections? Below you’ll find a clean word list, spoiler-light nudges, a single reveal from each group, and the full solution. If you want to play first, open the game on the New York Times Games site at nytimes.com/games/connections.

NYT Connections today (#845, Oct 3) — the 16-word grid

  • BORDER
  • CABARET
  • EDGE
  • EDDIE
  • EDITOR
  • EDUCATION
  • EDELWEISS
  • EDWARD
  • EXTREMITY
  • FOOTBALL
  • LIMIT
  • MAMMA MIA
  • MEMORY
  • PAST TENSE
  • TASMANIAN DEVIL
  • TORNADO

Note: Colors indicate difficulty, with yellow the simplest and purple the trickiest.

Category hints (no spoilers)

  • Yellow: Think outer bounds and far edges.
  • Green: These all share a spinning or spiraling motion.
  • Blue: Earworms from the stage — titles you’ve likely heard sung.
  • Purple: A two-letter combo can stand for each of these; one vowel, then one consonant.

One reveal per group (minor spoilers)

  • Yellow: LIMIT
  • Green: FOOTBALL
  • Blue: MAMMA MIA
  • Purple: EDWARD

Full answers for Connections #845 (spoilers)

Color Category Items
Yellow Boundary BORDER, EDGE, EXTREMITY, LIMIT
Green They move in a spiral EDDY, FOOTBALL, TASMANIAN DEVIL, TORNADO
Blue Songs from musicals CABARET, EDELWEISS, MAMMA MIA, MEMORY
Purple What “ed” might indicate EDITOR, EDUCATION, EDWARD, PAST TENSE

Why these groups work

The boundary set gathers words that describe the outer limit or farthest point — all straightforward synonyms of an edge. The spiral-motion set links natural and animated whirlers alongside a thrown ball’s spin: an eddy in water, a tornado, the Tasmanian Devil’s trademark twirl, and the spiral of a thrown football.

The musical earworms are well-known song titles tied to major shows: “Cabaret” (Cabaret), “Edelweiss” (The Sound of Music), “Mamma Mia” (Mamma Mia), and “Memory” (Cats). The final group plays with “ed”: it can stand in for a person (Edward), a role (editor), a field (education), or the grammatical marker for past tense words.

Tip: The blue set’s trick is that two entries double as show titles and song titles. Today it’s about songs.

Play, shuffle, and share

Connections refreshes daily at midnight in your local time zone. You can play the current puzzle or explore the archive with a subscription. Use shuffle to spot new patterns, and share your color grid once you’ve grouped all four sets: yellow, green, blue, and purple.