NYT Connections #858: Here’s all you need to know about the hints and answers for 16 October puzzle

Connections is a game that the New York Times presents to its readers daily. In it, 16 words are given, and they have to be arranged into groups of four. Every group is based on a theme derived from the clues provided.

The 16 October connections puzzle (858) presents an interesting challenge. For those of you who may be having a slightly difficult time figuring this one out, we provide hints to the correct groupings. If you still cannot figure it out, we have the complete answers as well.

NYT Connections today’s words

The 16 words given today are: Cobbler, Crisp, Crumble, Cross, Char, Boat, Bread, Slug, Split, Sore, Sour, Tart, Prickly, Fluke, Pike and Skate.

NYT Connections today hints

The clues given to figure out the four groupings are as follows:

Yellow: Desserts

Green: Grouchy

Blue: They swim

Purple: Yellow fruit.

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NYT Connections today's themes

Here are the four groups and their theme:

Yellow: Fruit desserts

Green: Crabby

Blue: Fishes

Purple: Banana __

These four themes can be figured out by looking at the words and matching them to the clues. Desserts make sense because there are many types mentioned in the words. Some of them are related to bananas, which helps in figuring out the last clue, as some of the dishes can be made with bananas.

Those who are familiar with fish varieties can immediately spot the names of fish species, understanding that the third category is of fish. Lastly, the presence of words depicting a particular mood, associated with words related to crabs, helps in understanding the green group.

NYT Connections today, full answers and groupings

Fruit desserts: Cobbler, Crisp, Crumble, Tart

Crabby: Cross, Sour, Prickly, Sore

Fishes: Pike, Fluke, Skate, Char

Purple: Split, Bread, Slug, Boat

Tips for solving Connections puzzles

There are many ways to approach the challenge of solving the connections puzzle. Every person’s mind works in its own way, but there can be tips on how to approach solving the puzzle.

Have a look at the words, and if you can spot a common feature in some of them, then try to see if, among the group-related clues, you can find a category corresponding to them.

If three words are falling into the same category, try to find which of the remaining words are most likely to go along with them.

Then, look at the clues for group identity, and if you can match them to any emerging patterns in the words, go ahead with the classification. Hopefully, you’ll be able to work things out from there.