Connections is a puzzle game featured in The New York Times where players are given 16 words and must put them into four groups that are somehow connected. The game editor, Wyna Liu, is known for tricking players by using words that can fit into more than one group. The game also now has a Connections Bot, similar to the one for Wordle, that provides a numeric score and analyzes answers. Registered Times Games players can track their progress, including number of puzzles completed, win rate, perfect scores, and win streaks.
Hints, tips, and strategies can help players win at NYT Connections every time. To play, players must mentally assign the 16 words to related groups of four and click on the four words they believe go together. The groups are color-coded, but players do not know the correct grouping until they see the answers. The yellow group is the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. The connection between words can sometimes be based on just a part of the word, such as words starting with the name of a rock band.
The game also offers a new version for sports fans, allowing players to “swing for the fences” with sports-related connections. Today’s hints for the Connections puzzle include phrases like “cheers” and “greenhouse ____,” leading to groupings like ways to order a beer and the cheesy corn snack unit. The yellow group in today’s puzzle focuses on progressing slowly with words like crawl, creep, drag, and inch. The green group revolves around ways to order a beer with words like bottle, can, draft, and tap. The blue group consists of cheesy corn snack unit words like ball, curl, doodle, and puff, while the purple group includes words related to the “____ effect” such as butterfly, domino, halo, and placebo.
To enhance the gameplay experience, registered players can now follow their progress, win rate, and streaks on Times Games. The game challenges players to think critically about the connections between seemingly unrelated words and find creative ways to group them together based on common themes or characteristics. With the help of hints and strategies, players can improve their chances of winning at Connections every time they play.
