Free tools Windows power users keep installed
One-click scans. No signup required.
The Saturday, September 14, 2024 edition of Connections is puzzle #461. Below are the 16 board words and progressive hints; the complete groups appear after a clearly marked spoiler warning.
Puzzle #461 at a glance
The board contains 16 words that must be divided into four groups of four:
LION · SWITCH · RETRO · BURGER · VINTAGE · SUB · PROM · SLIDER · SUPER · GRAPE · BUTTON · CALIFORNIA · REGION · KNOB · PRO · WINERY
Hints for Saturday, September 14
Use these in order, stopping when you have enough help:
#1 Best Overall
- Yellow: Look for words found on the label of a specific beverage type.
- Green: Find words that let you control or adjust settings on a device.
- Blue: Find letter groups sometimes added to the beginning of a word to change its meaning.
- Purple: Find words that precede a four-letter noun related to royalty.
How to approach the clues
Start with literal categories
The wine-label and device-control groups use straightforward objects or information, making them the best starting points.
Then test word-building clues
The remaining entries require either a grammatical connection (a prefix) or a phrase-completion pattern. Check whether a word can attach naturally to several examples before committing it to a group.
Rank #2
Spoiler warning: full answers below
The complete groupings and explanations follow. Stop here if you only wanted hints.
| Color | Category | Words | Why they fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yellow | Wine bottle info | GRAPE, REGION, VINTAGE, WINERY | These are information or descriptors associated with a wine-bottle label. |
| Green | Console inputs | BUTTON, KNOB, SLIDER, SWITCH | Each is a physical control used to adjust or operate a console or other device. |
| Blue | Prefixes | PRO, RETRO, SUB, SUPER | Each can function at the beginning of another word to modify its meaning. |
| Purple | ___ KING | BURGER, CALIFORNIA, LION, PROM | They complete Burger King, California king, The Lion King and prom king. |
Why the last group is the trickiest
The purple set depends on phrase completion rather than a single object type or a grammatical rule. Each entry forms a familiar expression when followed by “king,” while the other words are designed to suggest competing categories.
Quick wins for a faster PC:
Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
