Looking for the answers to NYT Connections #451? The Wednesday, September 4, 2024 puzzle includes groups about a very small amount, puppy purchases, party-related verbs, and keyboard symbols. The date matters: this is the 2024 puzzle, not the different Connections game published on September 4, 2025.
Below, you’ll find the complete 16-word grid, progressively more direct hints, and the full solution with explanations of the trickiest connections.
The 16 words in Connections #451
Here is the complete word bank for the New York Times Connections puzzle published on Wednesday, September 4, 2024:
CATER, BOWL, THROW, STAR, CARET, TRACE, CRATE, HASH, SHRED, BED, BRACE, TOUCH, PLAN, HINT, COLLAR, HOST
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Hints for Connections #451
Try these category-level clues before reading the answers. They are ordered from the easiest category to the most difficult.
- Yellow: A very small amount.
- Green: Things you might buy for a puppy.
- Blue: Verbs connected with putting on a party or event.
- Purple: Symbols that can appear on a keyboard.
In less direct terms, the categories are “just a little,” “doggy must-haves,” “celebration time,” and “look down while typing.”
Spoiler warning: The complete groups and explanations appear below.
Connections #451 answers
Yellow: VERY SMALL AMOUNT
HINT, SHRED, TOUCH, TRACE
Each of these words can describe a tiny quantity or minimal degree, although the connection depends on context:
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- A shred of evidence is a very small piece or amount.
- A touch of seasoning or paint means a little of something.
- A trace of a substance is a tiny detectable quantity.
This is the puzzle’s most semantically diffuse group. The four words are not interchangeable in every sentence, but each can express “a small amount” in a suitable phrase.
Green: PUPPY PURCHASES
BED, BOWL, COLLAR, CRATE
These are practical items someone might buy when bringing home a puppy. The group is the most concrete of the four, making it a useful place to begin solving.
There are still decoys. Bowl can suggest sports, while crate can be read as a verb or a container in other contexts. Connections uses that kind of overlap to make a plausible group less immediately certain.
Blue: HELP PUT ON A PARTY
CATER, HOST, PLAN, THROW
You can cater, host, plan, or throw a party. “Throw a party” is the most idiomatic expression, while “cater” and “host” help reveal the broader event-related theme.
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Throw is especially effective as a decoy because its more common associations involve physical actions rather than celebrations.
Purple: KEYBOARD SYMBOLS
BRACE, CARET, HASH, STAR
These are names used for symbols that can appear on a keyboard or in text and computing contexts:
- Brace: a curly bracket,
{ }. - Caret: commonly the keyboard character
^. - Hash: the
#symbol. - Star: the asterisk,
*.
The intended connection is the names of keyboard symbols, not a claim that all four belong to one narrow formal punctuation category. In particular, “caret” has different typographic uses, but ^ is commonly called a caret when discussing keyboards and text.
Why this puzzle was tricky
The yellow group is difficult because it is based on related shades of meaning rather than a shared object or phrase. A hint, shred, touch, and trace can all mean “a little,” but only when used in the right context. That makes the group easy to overlook while you search for a more rigid pattern.
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The purple group creates a different kind of difficulty: terminology. Solvers may recognize the symbols themselves without immediately treating BRACE, CARET, HASH, and STAR as a set of symbol names. STAR is also a strong decoy because it can refer to a celebrity or performer, while TOUCH may suggest a touchscreen or interface.
The green and blue groups become more manageable once the concrete puppy items and party verbs are separated. After removing those eight words, the keyboard-symbol group is easier to spot, and the remaining four words resolve to the small-amount category.
A practical solve path
- Start with the puppy items: BED, BOWL, COLLAR, and CRATE form a concrete set.
- Look for party verbs: CATER, HOST, PLAN, and THROW all work with “a party.”
- Inspect the remaining terminology: BRACE, CARET, HASH, and STAR are names associated with keyboard symbols.
- Use elimination carefully: HINT, SHRED, TOUCH, and TRACE are left, and their shared idea is a very small amount.
The general lesson is to remove an obvious group when you have strong evidence, but not to lock in a category just because four words share one loose association. Connections deliberately includes words that can fit multiple ideas before the intended partition is clear.
Want more Connections puzzles?
If you enjoy the daily game, Connections: Find the Common Threads in 100+ Puzzles of Wit and Wordplay, by The New York Times Games and Wyna Liu, is a natural offline follow-up. It is a standalone hardcover collection focused on Connections-style wordplay; it should not be assumed to contain puzzle #451 unless a current publisher or retailer listing specifically says so.
For a broader collection, The New York Times Games: Puzzle Mania! includes Connections material alongside other New York Times Games such as Wordle, Spelling Bee, crosswords, logic puzzles, and trivia. It is a less focused choice than the standalone Connections book, but may suit readers who want several types of screen-free puzzles.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How NYT Connections works
Connections presents 16 words and asks players to divide them into four groups of four, with each group sharing a common connection. The categories are color-coded by difficulty: yellow is generally the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple as the most challenging.
Best Value
The game’s intended solution depends on the full partition. A word may appear to fit more than one category, so a seemingly valid group can still be wrong if it prevents the remaining words from forming the other three groups.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the answer to Connections #451 on September 4, 2024?
The four groups are VERY SMALL AMOUNT — HINT, SHRED, TOUCH, TRACE; PUPPY PURCHASES — BED, BOWL, COLLAR, CRATE; HELP PUT ON A PARTY — CATER, HOST, PLAN, THROW; and KEYBOARD SYMBOLS — BRACE, CARET, HASH, STAR.
What date was NYT Connections #451 published?
Connections #451 was published on Wednesday, September 4, 2024. September 4, 2025 refers to a different puzzle.
Why are HINT, SHRED, TOUCH, and TRACE connected?
Each word can describe a very small amount in context: a hint of flavor, a shred of evidence, a touch of seasoning, or a trace of a substance.
What keyboard symbols do CARET, HASH, STAR, and BRACE represent?
CARET commonly refers to ^, HASH to #, STAR to *, and BRACE to curly brackets, { }.
The Bottom Line
Connections #451, published September 4, 2024, is solved by grouping HINT, SHRED, TOUCH, TRACE; BED, BOWL, COLLAR, CRATE; CATER, HOST, PLAN, THROW; and BRACE, CARET, HASH, STAR. The two groups to watch are the context-dependent “very small amount” set and the keyboard-symbol terminology set.
Quick Recap
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