NYT Connections Hints November 23: Today’s Clues and Full Breakdown Explained

Today’s NYT Connections hint for Nov. 23 is here for puzzle fans who want gentle help without giving everything away too fast. The Nov. 23 Connections challenge mixes wordplay, entertainment themes and one tricky category that may stall even experienced players.

The Nov. 23 puzzle—identified as #896—offers a balanced set of difficulty levels. Many players reported an easier start but a difficult finish, especially around the final purple group. Below is a clean and complete breakdown to help you solve or check your grid.

All NYT Connections Hint Nov 23 Details

The New York Times continues to expand its puzzle features. As noted by outlets such as CNET and CNN in recent coverage, the Connections game has grown into one of the platform’s most-played daily challenges. The Nov. 23 puzzle reflects that popularity with a varied mix of clues, including a theme tied to classic cinema and one tied to a legendary music group.

The hints for today’s puzzle point players toward broad themes. Some categories are straightforward. Others depend on cultural knowledge. Many players say the blue and purple sections can be the toughest because they require familiarity with specific works.

Today’s NYT Connections Hint Nov 23: Full Group Breakdown

Here are the official hints offered to guide players through the Nov. 23 puzzle:

Yellow hint: Lightening someone’s punishment.
Green hint: Places where animals live.
Blue hint: Movies from a major film director.
Purple hint: Words from titles by a Swedish music group.

These clues align with four different categories. The yellow group is the simplest. The green group requires knowledge of outdoor wildlife. The blue group focuses on the work of Oscar-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone. The purple set includes titles connected to ABBA, one of Sweden’s biggest pop acts.

Yellow category: Lenient
The yellow answers include: easy, lax, loose, slack. These words all refer to going soft on someone or showing reduced severity.

Green category: Animal homes
The green set contains: burrow, den, lodge, warren. Each word is linked to a habitat where animals live or hide.

Blue category: Oliver Stone movies
The blue grouping features: JFK, Nixon, Platoon, Wall Street. These films earned major recognition and awards. Platoon won Best Picture, while Wall Street remains a cultural reference point for financial drama.

Purple category: Second words in ABBA song titles
This trickier group includes: Gimme, Mia, Queen, Trouper. Each appears in well-known ABBA favorites.

How Players Reacted and Why This Puzzle Stands Out

Many fans found today’s puzzle enjoyable because it mixes accessible vocabulary with two pop-culture categories. The animal homes category helped anchor the puzzle and gave players momentum. But the ABBA category caused hesitation for those unfamiliar with the group’s catalog.

The Oliver Stone film set also requires precise recognition. However, because these films appear often in cultural reporting from outlets like Reuters and BBC News, many players found them easier to identify.

The Nov. 23 puzzle—marked by entertainment themes and classic cultural references—ended up being one of the more balanced editions of the month. With today’s NYT Connections hint Nov 23 complete, players can move confidently to the next challenge.

FYI (keeping you in the loop)-

Q1: What is today’s NYT Connections hint for Nov. 23?

It includes clues for lenient terms, animal homes, Oliver Stone movies and ABBA titles. These lead to the four answer groups for puzzle #896.

Q2: How hard is the NYT Connections Nov. 23 puzzle?

Difficulty is moderate. The yellow and green groups are easy, while the purple ABBA category is the toughest for most players.

Q3: What is the most difficult category today?

The ABBA titles group is the hardest. It requires knowing the second words from four well-known songs.

Q4: Are the blue clues always film-related?

No. They change daily. Today’s blue category involves Oliver Stone movies, but other days may include sports, science, or slang.

Q5: Where do the hints come from?

The New York Times publishes official clues and categories for its daily Connections puzzle. Many players also rely on news outlets for recap summaries.