Looking for today's Connections answer for Puzzle #533 on November 25, the difficulty level is the same as yesterday, and the Connections Companion has a difficulty level of 3 out of 5.

We update our Connections clues and hints daily. And if the hints aren't enough, you can see all four solutions along with the category title and related words. In addition, for those of you reading this in a different time zone, I have included a reflection on yesterday's puzzle 532.

There are spoilers for Connection 533. Only those who want to know the answer to today's connection should read on.

Alternatively, see our NYT Connections How to Play Guide for tips on how to solve the puzzle without our help.

While today's wordle solution guide recommends the best wordle starting words as a strategy, the Connections solution depends on identifying the categories that are connected from the 16 words. The difficulty of each category is represented by a color, with yellow being the easiest grouping and purple the most difficult. Hints are helpful as the answer is displayed after four wrong guesses.

If you need a hint to solve the groupings, here are each theme in order of difficulty:

These hints should at least give you an idea of how to find the answer to today's connection. If not, please continue reading for larger hints. Also, if you just want the answer, scroll down further.

Here's a bigger clue.

Now, what is the answer to today's game #533 Connection?

Drum roll please.

Today's puzzle was a tough one, but I managed to get one of the hardest puzzles started: anchor, bow, bridge, and deck.

Then I got a couple of strikes trying to force a score in the remaining green categories: crowd, herd, organizer, and sea. The score could mean “a group of about 20 people,” but apparently not by Connection Crew's standards.

Yellow was the second hardest category I solved today, with again, score, land, win. Therefore, the only memorization task today was purple, which was a philosophical level I did not expect.

Are you reading this late in the day? According to Connections Companion, the difficulty level was 3 out of 5.

I took three strikes almost immediately and hung on to my fingernails with the last strike until I finished the puzzle. Strikes are usually used to try wilder groupings or to stubbornly force a category.

I had coerced a dental category, but was left frustrated by the lack of categories.

Otherwise, I knocked out yellow with account, chronicle, description, and story. I then took three consecutive strikes forcing the dentist group.

Eventually, I got to what I thought was the gooey category: gum, latex, resin, and sap. I had forgotten that latex comes from trees. Oh well.

Long story short, I was looking for a game group with checkers, balls-in-cups, and roulette. That didn't work, but it did lead me to the purple category where I was looking at black stuff.

Thus, checkers, licorice, roulette, and balance sheet.

And we wrapped this in sticks: ball-in-cups, corn dogs, cotton swabs, lollipops.