Today's NYT Mini Crossword is an easy one. Usually, I'm thrown off when the puzzle pulls a meta-question, and wants you to fill in circled letters to solve an extra clue, but this

Connections is the one of the most popular New York Times word games that's captured the public's attention. The game is all about finding the "common threads between words." And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we've served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.

Today’s Connections has categories about kitchen creations, vertical ventures and more. Below are the hints, categories and answers for today’s Connections game, puzzle #688, on April 29. Seen on a table at a dinner party: Candlestick, pitcher, placemat, plate