How today’s NYT Connections answers and red herrings fit together.

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Note: Make sure to complete today’s NYT Connections before reading further! We’ll be getting into spoilers for today’s game pretty quickly. If you need some help to complete the grid, you can find my NYT Connections hints and answers column for today right here.

Hey there, Connectors! Welcome to my deeper dive into today’s NYT Connections answers. The idea behind this is to help clear things up for anyone who isn’t sure how today’s groups fit together.

I’m going to assume that a) you know how to play NYT Connections and b) you’ve already beaten today’s game. If I’ve missed any red herrings or misunderstood something, let me know via email, Bluesky or Discord. I don’t typically look at X or check the comments here.

We’re going straight into spoiler territory here. So, consider this your one and only warning.

Here are today’s NYT Connections answers explained (and any red herrings I spot) for Monday, October 20:

Today’s NYT Connections Answers Explained

NYT Connections – Yellow Group

🟨 affliction (BUGBEAR, COMPLEX, DEMON, HANG-UP)

A BUGBEAR is a source of dread or irritation, something that might cause us to hesitate. It’s also “an imaginary goblin or specter used to excite fear,” per Merriam-Webster.

You might have heard of an inferiority COMPLEX, god COMPLEX, savior COMPLEX and so on. A COMPLEX is a psychological term for an amalgam of repressed emotions, memories, desires and ideas that impact a person’s behavior and personality. The Wikipedia entry for it is pretty interesting.

A DEMON is a feeling that can cause one to worry or behave in a negative way. It can sometimes be used to refer to an addiction.

A HANG-UP is a psychological barrier that prevents something from doing something, such as whatever holds my brain back from making me take the elevator to my building’s gym on a regular basis 🫠.

NYT Connections – Green Group

🟩 represented by constellations (BIG BEAR, CENTAUR, HUNTER, LYRE)

Here’s what those constellations look like, starting with BIG BEAR. Also known as Ursa Major, that constellation is on the left here:

Here’s CENTAUR or Centaurus:

Let’s take a peek at the HUNTER constellation, also known as Orion. It’s said to depict a hunter holding out his shield:

Last but not least, we have LYRE. It’s also known as Lyra and relates to the shape of said instrument, a faint version of which is in the background of this image:

NYT Connections – Blue Group

🟦 periodic table symbols (AS, BE, I, K)

We can jam through these quickly. AS is arsenic, BE is beryllium, I is iodine and K is potassium. I actually knew that last one!

NYT Connections – Purple Group

🟪 ____corn (A, CAPRI, POP, UNI)

Fun little group here. I don’t think this requires too much explanation. Here, we have Acorn, CAPRIcorn (as in the zodiac sign), POPcorn and UNIcorn. Yup, straightforward enough, I’d say.

NYT Connections – Red Herrings

I touched on these in the main column, but there were some fun red herrings in today’s game. Of course, the top line referenced the hit movie KPop Demon Hunters. If you’re a Huntr/x fan who couldn’t resist checking whether that was a group I don’t blame you. Here’s the trailer, just in case you’re wondering what all the fuss is about:

The BIG BEAR/BUGBEAR pun was funny and the CENTAUR and UNI(corn) combo almost tripped me up.

I also thought it was interesting to CAPRI(corn) in the mix. That (well, Capricornus) is a constellation too:

If you’d like to chat about today’s game of NYT Connections with a group of exceptionally cool and lovely people and also me, you can do just that in our Discord community. We’d love to have you join us.

I’ll be back with another set of NYT Connections hints and answers tomorrow, as well as another edition of this one, all going well. You’ll be able to find both of those on my Forbes author page when the time comes (following me there helps me out too!). As for the weekend editions of my NYT Connections hints and answers column, I’m currently doing that via my newsletter, Pastimes.