Looking for today's Connections answers? The Connections answers on October 27 for puzzle #504 are much more difficult than yesterday's puzzle, with the Connections Companion rating this puzzle's difficulty at 3.3 out of 5.

Every day, we update this article with Connections hints and tips to help you find all 4 of today's answers. And if the hints aren't enough, you'll find all 4 answers below, with the category titles and the correlating words. Plus, we're including a reflection on yesterday's puzzle, #503, in case you're reading this in a different time zone.

Spoilers lie ahead for Connections #504. Only read on if you want to know today's Connections answers.

Alternatively, visit our how to play NYT Connections guide for tips on how to solve the puzzle without our help.

Unlike our guide to today's Wordle answer, where we recommend the best Wordle start words as your strategy, solving Connections relies on identifying connecting categories among 16 words. Each category's difficulty level is represented by a color; yellow is the easiest grouping, and purple is the most challenging. Once you've made 4 mistakes in your guesses, the answers will be revealed, so hints can be helpful.

If you need hints to solve the groupings, then here are the themes of each, based on the order of difficulty:

These hints should get you at least some of the way towards finding today's Connections answers. If not, then you can read on for bigger clues; or, if you just want to know the answer, then scroll down further.

Here's a larger hint: Do a quick vibe check, measure up, and don't sweat the little things to solve today's puzzle.

I kicked off today's puzzle by solving the easier category first with Cute, Fresh, Smart, and Wise -- all things I was called as a kid (though "ass" proceeded smart most of the time).

Next, we swung to the opposite end of the difficulty spectrum with the purple category. Something about Rascals being plural stuck in my craw. What else could it be except "The Little Rascals"? With that in mind, other "little" properties jumped out, with Prince, Mermaid, and Tramp rounding out the category.

After that came Air, Feeling, Mood, and Quality, all words with a certain je ne sais quoi for green.

That made the blue category today's rote fill, which I managed to suss out before it was revealed after digging deep into what I remembered from high school science class.

Reading this in a later time zone? Here are the Connections answers for game #503, which had a difficulty rating of 2.3 out of 5, according to the Connections Companion.

Yesterday's started off with the blue category as I was thinking babies with rocker, swing and cradle. Hammock doesn't fit baby stuff but nothing else fit.

The reset got me with chain and chat next to other, finding thread and conversation for messages.

I had been eyeing can, roller and spool but I was looking for a paint or sewing connection. It took a second before silo clicked for tube shaped items.

Which left faze, rattle, ruffle and throw for "fluster." Not sure why I never saw the yellow category but so it goes.