Here’s a brisk walkthrough for Connections #876 (November 3, 2025). If you want a nudge before the full solution, start with the hints below, then check your work against the answer table.

How Connections works (quick refresher)

  • Sort 16 words into four groups of four by a shared theme.
  • Colors indicate difficulty: yellow (easiest), green, blue, purple (hardest).
  • Expect red herrings and overlapping ideas; precision matters.

Hints for today’s groups (ordered by difficulty)

  • Yellow: Items that share the same color.
  • Green: Things that are filled with the same substance when used.
  • Blue: Games or activities notorious for having lots of pieces to clean up.
  • Purple: Phrases whose endings are all the same “category” of thing. Tip: ignore the first words.

Herring watch: Several entries look like children’s toys or games. One group does collect four of them, but the theme is more specific than “toys.” Don’t over-group.

Full answers for Connections #876

Color Category Words Why it fits
Yellow Things that are red Clown Nose, Fire Engine, Maraschino Cherry, Stop Sign Each is commonly identified by the color red.
Green Things filled with air Balloon Animal, Bouncy Castle, Water Wings, Whoopee Cushion All require inflation to function.
Blue Things with a lot of pieces Jigsaw Puzzle, Lego Set, Lite-brite, Pick-Up Sticks Notoriously piece-heavy and a pain to tidy.
Purple Ending with animals Dark Horse, Funky Chicken, Jumbo Shrimp, Sea Monkey Focus on the second word; each ends with an animal.

Why these groups work

Color match (Yellow): “Clown Nose,” “Fire Engine,” “Maraschino Cherry,” and “Stop Sign” map cleanly to a single, defining color, which removes overlap with trickier toy-related words.

Inflatables (Green): “Balloon Animal,” “Bouncy Castle,” “Water Wings,” and “Whoopee Cushion” only become what they are when filled with air. That separates them from non-inflatable toys and games.

Many pieces (Blue): “Jigsaw Puzzle,” “Lego Set,” “Lite-brite,” and “Pick-Up Sticks” draw focus to cleanup and piece count, not age range or play style.

Animal endings (Purple): Ignore qualifiers like “Dark,” “Funky,” “Jumbo,” and “Sea.” The pattern emerges when you look only at the second words: Horse, Chicken, Shrimp, Monkey.

Common traps in today’s grid

  • “Toys” as a catch-all: It’s tempting to lump “Balloon Animal,” “Whoopee Cushion,” “Lego Set,” and “Lite-brite” together. That misses the real split: inflatables vs. piece-heavy items.
  • First-word bias in phrases: The purple set hides in plain sight; drop the first word and the animal pattern becomes obvious.

Quick solve path (if you’re stuck)

  1. Pull the obvious color set: Clown Nose, Fire Engine, Maraschino Cherry, Stop Sign.
  2. Separate anything that needs air to work: Balloon Animal, Bouncy Castle, Water Wings, Whoopee Cushion.
  3. From what’s left, group the piece-heavy games: Jigsaw Puzzle, Lego Set, Lite-brite, Pick-Up Sticks.
  4. Finish with the animal-ending phrases: Dark Horse, Funky Chicken, Jumbo Shrimp, Sea Monkey.

That order mirrors the rising difficulty and avoids the “everything is a toy” false grouping that can burn guesses.