NYT Connections Answers for Today

1. Card suits

   HEARTS, CLUBS, DIAMONDS, SPADES

   Hearts, clubs, diamonds, and spades are the four suits.

2. Wet weather

   RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, DRIZZLE

   Rain, sleet, hail, and drizzle are kinds of wet weather.

3. Words after HOT

   DOG, TUB, SAUCE, MESS

   Hot dog, hot tub, hot sauce, and hot mess.

4. Homophones of 1, 2, 4, and 8

   WON, TOO, FOR, ATE

   Won, too, for, and ate sound like one, two, four, and eight.

October 2 looks like a weather board until the blue row refuses to sit with rain. Dog, tub, sauce, and mess only meet when you put HOT in front of each one. The purple row is a sound match: won, too, for, and ate are one, two, four, and eight spelled the way they sound. If you spend guesses pairing dog with the weather, you are sorting by scene instead of by the missing word.

If you want the ladder without the words, use today's hints. The archive entry is October 2 hints.