NYT Connections hints and answers — October 28 (game #870)

Today’s Connections (game #870) is a tidy solve with an official difficulty of 2.3 out of 5. If you still want to play before seeing spoilers, you can open the puzzle at the New York Times Games page: nytimes.com/games/connections.

Today’s words (game #870)

Category hints (no spoilers)

• Yellow: Tired, overused statements.
• Green: Being informed and in the loop.
• Blue: Common buttons you’ll find on a TV remote.
• Purple: Add one letter to the front of a one-name singer to make a new word.

Stop here if you want to keep your streak without seeing the exact groupings.

Full answers (spoilers)

Why these groups work

• Banality: Each term is a label for a trite idea or overfamiliar saying. “Chestnut” doubles as slang for a stale joke.
• In the know: Four straightforward synonyms for being informed or clued in.
• Remote control buttons: Standard navigation keys that appear on many TV remotes and streaming remotes.
• One‑named singer + letter: Prefix a single letter to a mononym to form a common word:
  • Usher → GUSHER
  • Enya → KENYA
  • Cher → OCHER (American spelling)
  • Elvis → PELVIS

A common trap in today’s grid

HIP, BACK, and PELVIS look like the start of a body‑parts set, but there isn’t a clean fourth to complete it. HOME is another misdirection — it’s with the remote buttons, not a place theme. If you hesitated on CHESTNUT, remember it’s a familiar label for something hackneyed or overdone, which slots it neatly into the banality group.

That’s game #870. If you’re protecting a streak, use the category hints first — they’re enough to separate the remote buttons and the “in the know” set without revealing the letter‑plus‑singer trick. New grids unlock daily at midnight in your time zone.