Waking up to a fresh grid of 16 words is a ritual for some, a nightmare for others. If you're looking at the board for October 28 and feeling like the words are staring back with zero intention of making sense, you aren't alone. Today's puzzle—officially game #870—is a classic example of the New York Times editors playing with our heads. It’s got that specific late-October vibe where the difficulty starts to ramp up before the holiday themed puzzles kick in.
Honestly, the nyt connections hints october 28 needs might be more about seeing the "invisible" links than just finding synonyms. This one isn't just a vocabulary test. It's a test of how your brain handles tech interfaces, pop music history, and the sheer repetitive nature of language itself.
Quick Clues for the Vague at Heart
Sometimes you don't want the full answer. You just want a nudge. A tiny little push in the right direction so you can still claim the win for your streak without feeling like you cheated. Here is the vibe for each color group today:
- Yellow: Think about things you've heard a thousand times before. Boredom.
- Green: This is about being "in the loop."
- Blue: Look at your coffee table. Or your TV stand.
- Purple: This is a classic "letter-addition" trick. It involves famous people.
The Yellow Group: Words for the Boring stuff
Yellow is supposed to be the "easy" one. But today, it’s a bit meta. It’s all about words that describe things that are overused.
The category is BANALITY.
If you’ve ever sat through a meeting where someone used a "thought leader" buzzword, you’ve encountered a PLATITUDE. If you’re watching a movie and can predict the ending five minutes in, that’s a TROPE. The words here are: CHESTNUT, CLICHÉ, PLATITUDE, and TROPE.
Wait, CHESTNUT? Yeah, that’s the one that usually trips people up. In this context, an "old chestnut" is a joke or a story that has been told so many times it's lost its flavor. It’s not just a nut you roast on an open fire; it’s a linguistic fossil.
The Green Group: Are You Plugged In?
The Green group today is fairly straightforward if you focus on the concept of "knowing." It’s titled IN THE KNOW.
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The words are AWARE, HIP, SAVVY, and WISE. You might have tried to put HIP with the Purple group (because of the word "Pelvis"), and that’s exactly what the editors wanted you to do. It’s a classic red herring. But in this set, "hip" is used in the sense of being culturally aware or trendy.
The Blue Group: Navigating the Screen
Now we’re getting into the "harder" territory. Blue is usually a bit more niche. Today, the category is REMOTE CONTROL BUTTONS.
Think about the physical or digital remote you use for Netflix or a smart TV. The words are BACK, HOME, MENU, and SELECT.
It’s one of those categories that seems obvious once you see it, but when the words are scattered in a grid next to "Pelvis" and "Kenya," your brain doesn't immediately go to electronics.
The Purple Group: The Real Brain Teaser
Purple is always the "tricky" one. Today is no exception. If you were looking at GUSHER or OCHER and thinking they looked out of place, you were right. They aren't just words; they are hidden names.
The category is ONE-NAMED SINGER PLUS STARTING LETTER.
Basically, you take a famous singer who goes by one name and slap a letter on the front:
- G + USHER = GUSHER
- K + ENYA = KENYA
- O + CHER = OCHER
- P + ELVIS = PELVIS
This is the kind of wordplay that makes Connections both addictive and infuriating. You have to stop looking at what the word is and start looking at what it contains.
Strategy for Solving #870 Without Losing Your Mind
If you haven't finished the puzzle yet, take a breath. The biggest mistake people make on October 28 is jumping into the "body parts" trap.
You see HIP, BACK, and PELVIS. You think, "Aha! Anatomy!" You look for a fourth word. You see SELECT (maybe it's a muscle?) or WISE (wisdom teeth?). You click. You get a "One Away" message. You try again. Suddenly, you've wasted three guesses on a category that doesn't actually exist.
The trick is to look for the outlier. PLATITUDE doesn't fit with body parts. Neither does MENU. Once you isolate the words that only fit in one possible place (like Platitude or Menu), the rest of the board begins to crumble.
The Full Breakdown for October 28
Just in case you want to see it all laid out clearly:
- Yellow (Banality): CHESTNUT, CLICHÉ, PLATITUDE, TROPE
- Green (In the Know): AWARE, HIP, SAVVY, WISE
- Blue (Remote Control Buttons): BACK, HOME, MENU, SELECT
- Purple (Singer + Letter): GUSHER, KENYA, OCHER, PELVIS
Why This Puzzle Matters for Your Streak
Connections is a game of pattern recognition, but it’s also a game of patience. The nyt connections hints october 28 provides show us that the NYT is leaning harder into "subtraction" and "addition" puzzles for the Purple category lately.
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If you want to keep your streak alive through the rest of the month, start looking for these hidden names or "words within words." It’s a favorite tactic of the current editors.
Your next move: Go back to the grid and look for the singers first. If you can clear the Purple group early, the rest of the board opens up like a book. If you're still stuck, try shuffling the tiles. Sometimes just moving BACK away from PELVIS is enough to break the mental loop.
Good luck—you’ve got this.