Looking for the most recent NYT Connections puzzle answers? CNET publishes daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

In Connections, you look at a grid of 16 words and pick four words that have a connection to each other. You do this four times until all 16 words in the puzzle are grouped. The tough part is that Times puzzle editor Wyna Liu chooses words that could fit in multiple groups. The obvious guess — hey! Those are four animals! — is almost always going to be wrong. I’ve compiled my favorite tips for Connections if you need a boost.

The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Puzzle Overview

Today’s Connections puzzle features a Halloween-related blue category. Read on for hints and the complete puzzle solutions.

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the challenging purple group.

Yellow group hint: Tons!

Green group hint: Rec room game.

Blue group hint: Judy or Wapner.

Purple group hint: No words.

Puzzle Solutions

Yellow group: Considerable amount.

Green group: Table tennis needs.

Blue group: Parts of a judge costume.

Purple group: Silent ____.

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is considerable amount.

The four answers are bunch, heap, lot and stack.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is table tennis needs.

The four answers are ball, net, paddle and table.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is parts of a judge costume.

The four answers are collar, gavel, robe and wig.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is silent ____.

The four answers are auction, film, partner and treatment.