How to Play (and Win) Connections
” Connections ” from the NYT is a brain-teasing game, the kind that makes you think, “Well, of course these words are related,” and then, “Oh, wait.” All you have to do is sort 16 words or phrases into four groups of four words, but grouping them can be tricky. I’ll explain how the game works, and how you need to think to play well.
I ’ll explain the differences between Wordle, Strands, and Connections — all NYT word games, but each has its own distinct gameplay and skill requirements. Connections is best for those who enjoy wordplay and references to common knowledge. But you’ll also need a high tolerance for deception, as this game liberally uses double meanings to intentionally twist the meaning of words. And if you get confused, you can always use our daily hints .
Where to play Connections
Connections is a New York Times game, so it’s available on the newspaper’s Games page and in its Games app . Each day features a new numbered puzzle, just like the daily Wordles.
How to play Connections
In the game, you are given 16 tiles, each with a word or short phrase written on it. On each turn, you must select four tiles that you think form a group. The groups are usually made up of one type of item (e.g. HAIL, RAIN, FROST, SNOW), but there is usually at least one group based on a word play. For example, one puzzle included DOUBT, SHADOW, FILM, and VOTE – all of which could be played.
If you guess wrong, the tiles will start to shake. If you are close to the correct answer, you will get the message “One more to go” to let you know that you have guessed three words. If you guess correctly, a colored strip will appear at the top of the board (showing the four words and their topic), and all the remaining tiles will move to the bottom of the board.
You have four options for mistakes. When they are gone, the game ends and you will see the answers you missed.
Even though there are four groups, you only need to identify three of them. By the end of the game, there will be four tiles left, which must be in the same group. To make the puzzle even more interesting, try to identify a theme before sending the last group to the drawing.
Why Connections Can Be So Tiring (And How to Avoid Silly Mistakes)
The game is designed to be challenging. Puzzle designers often group together five or more words that belong to the same category, but obviously only four of them can form a valid group. Or they take four words that can go together, but they put each one in a different category based on the dual meaning of each word.
For example, in my first attempt at the game, I suggested an obvious group: RAIN, HEAT, SNOW, and SEAFOOD. The game said that this was an invalid group. What?
But a moment later, that “Uh-huh?” became “Aha!” as the HEAT tied with the JAZZ, BUCKS, and NETS to form the NBA team set. Elsewhere on the board, I saw that HAIL wasn’t a gesture or a greeting, but an appropriate complement to words related to rainy weather. RACE CAR, which seemed to stand out—there were no other cars—turned out to be part of a set of palindromes.
How to Win at Connections
As I learned in my first game, the point is not to find any group of four words, but to try to find the groups that the puzzle creators had in mind. So take your time when you see the first possible connection. Look at the elements you’ve found: maybe one of them will fit something else?
It’s also strategic to mentally come up with a name for whatever your four potential matches have in common. The game’s help suggests that categories will never be as broad as “names” or “verbs,” so make sure you pick something specific. Note that I initially guessed “weather,” but it actually turned out to be “wet weather.” The game will name a theme once you’ve correctly guessed a group.
One Reddit user suggests writing down potential groups on a piece of paper, even if each one has more or less than four words. Once you see them all written down, something might come to mind.
I tried this on the Connections puzzle, which had a few words that could be cat names, and a few religious words whose exact theme was unclear. The rest were a mystery to me. So I started writing down possible groupings:
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Cats: Sylvester, Chester, Felix, Garfield, Tom (Five? That’s too many.)
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Religious words: altar, reliquary, abbey, temple, shrine (too many again!)
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???: high
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???: rocky
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???: silk
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The names of the presidents: Grover, Calvin, Harry… and, wait for it, Chester!
As soon as I started writing down the last group—the names of presidents—I realized that Chester could be in there, too. Removing Chester from the list of cats left me with only four cats, so I went back to the board and guessed first the names of presidents, then the names of cats. Both were correct.
All that was left was to come up with religious words that would go with “high,” “rocky,” and “silk.” All three are (literally or figuratively) “roads,” so their partner is “Abbey Road.” Got it?
Not the day you need? Here’s the solution for today’s Connections.