Looking for today's Connections answers? The Connections answers on October 17 for puzzle #494 gets a smidge harder than yesterday's puzzle, with the Connections Companion rating this puzzle's difficulty at 3.3 out of 5.

Here's today's Connections answer and hints for groups. These clues will help you solve New York Times' popular puzzle game, Connections, every day!

First launching in June 2023, Connections was an instant hit and is the second-most played game on the NYT app and website following, Wordle. Earlier this month, NYT announced it was launching the Connections archive, meaning subscribers could access 450 puzzles, pick up unfinished games and track their play history.