Connections for October 17, 2023: A daily game of grouping words that share a common thread.

Taking a break from my regular gig, here's my daily attempt to solve the word game Connections found at https://www.nytimes.com/games/connections

Or for my classic gameplay...

Candy Crush Saga is the SWEETEST game! I'm Suzy Fuller, and I strive to be the sweetest gamer...bringing you talkthroughs of the hardest levels and best events. I show you how I beat the levels and talk you through strategies so you can get the win, too! Please like and subscribe.

🍭 Candy Crush has over 13,000 "match three" levels to challenge your skills and keep your brain busy.
🍭 Candy Crush has daily events, seasonal events, and even special events hosted by pop stars and famous athletes--all designed to help you have fun and win boosters.
🍭 Candy Crush Saga has a host of helpful characters. Mr. Toffee is your guide. His adopted daughter, Tiffi, protects all the residents of this sugary world by foiling the plans of the Bubblegum Troll. Let's see how many more characters I can name without peeking: Odus the Owl (he's my tipsy boyfriend ;), Yeti, Dachs, Olivia, Dexter, Casey, Licorice the Cat, Misty, Minty, Samantha, and of course Benny (my son's name!), and Suzy, the little-known and infrequently seen candy giraffe.
🍭 Candy Crush is filled with tasty specials and boosters to help you win. Color bombs take out a color from the board. Stripes take out a row or column. Wrapped candies make a double blast to clear the 8 candies surrounding it--twice. Coconut wheels create three stripes. UFOs create three wrapped candies. Fish gobble up blockers and candies. Lucky candies convert into just what you need to complete the levels. Switch hands allow you to swap the location of two candies (or ingredients, etc.) Lollihammers, part lollipop and part hammer, help you to smash one candy or blocker. Paint brushes let you convert one candy to a stripe special. And the party popper 🎉 is an amazing fix-almost-everything tool that removes a layer from the board and drops down additional specials from a colorful piñata.
🍭 Candy Crush even has fun blockers, like cake bombs that remove a whole layer from the board, licorice shells that turn into useful color bombs, and bubblegum pop that...well...pops! Like a bomb!
🍭 Candy Crush is completely free to play, although in-app purchases can give you more power to beat those tough levels.

As Suzy the Candy Crush Guru, I bring you level and tutorial videos that I hope you find helpful and entertaining. (Come for the strategies...stay for the cats!)
🍬 Learn my favorite tasty tricks, tips, and hints.
🍬 See how I beat the levels in Let's Play Candy Crush fashion.
🍬 Hear how I develop my Candy Crush strategies for each level as I talk through my thoughts, experimenting to find what works and what doesn't.
🍬 Discover the changes and challenges that King throws our way, and how to find work-arounds to be victorious even in difficult circumstances.
🍬 Participate in the community by sharing your comments and questions about Candy Crush.
🍬 Share your own delicious discoveries of Candy Crush with me so we can learn and grow together.