Unraveling The Intricacies Of The New York Times' Connections Game

As the week draws to a close, don't forget to keep your Connections winning streak going—or start a new one if you recently ran out of luck or this is your first time here. The brainteaser was launched by The New York Times in June of last year and has quickly gone on to become the newspaper's second-most-played game behind Wordle, another word-based puzzle. If you’ve never played before, Connections challenges players to uncover threads connecting a series of words. Instructions on how to play the game are below. Clues and the answers for today’s puzzle are toward the end of the article.

Understanding the Gameplay of Connections

Connections tasks players with grouping 16 words into four categories based on association. For example, Thursday’s game linked the words “Attraction,” “Chemistry,” “Fireworks,” and “Sparks” under the category “Romantic Rapport.” This element of grouping adds a layer of strategy and thought, making the game not just about speed but also about critical thinking.

Each of the four categories is labeled with a color, which signifies their difficulty level. Yellow is the easiest category, followed by green, blue, and purple. However, the puzzles are rarely straightforward, using homophones and wordplay, among other techniques, to keep players challenged. This design ensures that even seasoned players find something new and exciting with each game.

The Challenge Behind Connections

Explaining why the game has four difficulty levels, the Times’ puzzle editor Wyna Liu said she toyed with different ways to make Connections more of a challenge. “There would have to be a mix of categories for the game to feel challenging and satisfying,” she said in the Times. “Some categories might be defined by their use of wordplay—palindromes, homophones, adding or dropping letters and words—rather than the literal meanings of the words on the cards.”

This thoughtful approach to categorization not only enriches the gameplay experience but also keeps players engaged. The familiarity of the words used, and how often they pop up in modern life, are also difficulty factors, although less-common words aren’t only used in the harder categories. “Item overlap,” where one word can be linked to multiple categories, is another way Connections tests players.

Tips for Playing Connections

Newsweek has some hints to help you figure out today’s Connections categories:

• Yellow: These words are associated with wanting.
• Green: Each of these answers is something you might read.
• Blue: For these answers, think of a classic spy movie franchise.
• Purple: These words precede a popular genre of music.

Answers for the Current Puzzle

Here are the answers for today’s Connections puzzle:

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