Mastering The Connections Game: Tips And Strategies For Success

Newsweek is back on hand to help with another round of hints and solutions for Monday's Connections game from The New York Times. This engaging daily puzzle challenges players to sort 16 words into four categories based on common themes. As players navigate through these categories—yellow, green, blue, and purple—they must identify the connections that link the words together. For example, a previous puzzle included the words "cater," "host," "plan," and "throw," which all pertained to organizing a party.

Players often find themselves in tricky situations where one word could belong to multiple categories. Despite the potential for confusion, each category is limited to four unique words, adding to the game's challenge. The color-coded categories also indicate the level of difficulty, with yellow being the easiest option and purple being the most abstract and challenging.

Wyna Liu, the editor of The New York Times, emphasizes the varying levels of difficulty among the categories presented each day. She notes that some categories may rely on wordplay—like palindromes or homophones—rather than straightforward definitions. Liu suggests that players can improve their chances of success by being aware of the familiarity of the words, how they might be categorized ambiguously, and the diversity of the wordplay involved.

For those looking to enhance their gameplay, Liu offers a valuable tip: if you notice that several words seem to belong to one category during your selection, consider switching to another category before making a guess. This strategy can help save your guesses for later rounds. Below, you will find some helpful tips to maintain your winning streak in Connections. But be cautious—scroll carefully if you want to uncover the answers without any spoilers!

Connections #470 Clues for Monday, September 23

Yellow: Perhaps difficult to walk on or to touch.

Green: Most often found in your backyard.

Blue: A famous one of two.

Purple: A word that comes before another.

Connections #470 Answers for Monday, September 23

Yellow category: “NOT SMOOTH, AS TERRAIN”

Yellow words: Bumpy, rough, rugged, uneven

Green: “BIT OF LAND FOR GROWING”

Green words: Bed, parcel, patch, plot

Blue: “MEMBER OF CARTOON DUO”

Blue words: Chip, rocky, scratchy, stitch

Purple: “___ PARK”

Purple words: Amusement, national, parallel, south

Did you guess the answers correctly? If so, congratulations! If not, commiserations—there will be another opportunity to crack the puzzle tomorrow. Connections is released at midnight in your local time zone, and Newsweek will be back with another round of hints and tips for each new game.