Finding the Right Connections: How to Solve the NYT Connections Game
Taking the puzzle world by storm, The New York Times Connections game has become a daily challenge for thousands of players trying to find hidden links between words. Some days the answers trickle down easily; on other days, the words decide to play tricks on you.
Staring blankly off into space in disbelief about the impossibility of one guess or another is a universal experience. Solving Connections is about more than just word knowledge; rather, it is also about fitting the pieces together with an original thought. Here’s how to think like a Connections master.
1. Know the structure of the game. Each of the puzzles is made up of 16 words that you will sort into four groups of four, based on their commonality. It could be synonyms, or perhaps someone famous said them, or they could be wordplays, or they could even fall into an older and surprising category that Riddler has thought of, like, for instance, things with holes. The trick is to recognize patterns and be strong in your will not to get distracted by anything deviously misleadable.
2. Start with the obvious. Certain connections are impossible to miss. If you see blue, red, green, and yellow, perhaps they’re a group. Start with the least difficult categories and build up from there.
3. Look for meanings beyond the obvious. Not all the connections are straightforward. Given the many meanings a word can have, Connections enjoys toying with this concept. For instance, bark can either mean the outermost covering of a tree or the sound a dog makes. If you happen to be stuck, grab hold of the second, or for that matter, any other meaning in mind.
4. Racket and Themes As for the words, sometimes, they are put in a group on the basis of their sounds or in unpredictable ways. For instance, words like “Knight”, “Write”, “Right”, and “Night” could all be in one set. Although they might appear to be dissimilar in writing, they all closely resemble one another in sound.
Sometimes, it might be in the theme of products, such as brand names. If you see the names “Apple”, “Amazon”, “Nike”,” and “Google”, you should consider there is a connection-a major company. It takes practice to build those connections, but soon enough, you’ll be able to spot them in no time.
5. Follow the Elimination Method If You cannot make a complete set of four, eliminate words that do not fit anywhere. Identify words that don’t belong and set them aside. It just makes things easier for you.
6. Look at Your Difficulty Levels Each Connections puzzle organizes its connects according to the following levels of difficulty:
Yellow: Most easy ones, simple connections, e.g. months.
Understanding this will help you figure out which groups to focus on first.
7. Step Back And Take Some Breaks Sometimes, time spent away from the computer can be time well spent clearing the cobwebs out of your mind. What is left may sometimes reveal connections missed before.
8. Past Puzzles Are Teachers Reviewing previous Connections games is probably one of the best ways to learn. The New York Times archives previous puzzles so you can examine them to see how categories seem to work. Eventually, you will process certain tricks the game uses.
9. Source External Clues Solving puzzles is about what we know, but it’s really about how we connect those to other information. Our brains make connections about information, having read, seen, or experienced it. So, when you’re really stuck, think how these words might relate to something in pop culture, history, or even everyday life.
For example: Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto might bring thoughts about Disney cartoons. That connection is, in fact, made not just through dictionary definitions, but through life experiences.
10. Play Regularly and Enjoy Connections takes practice like any other skill. The more one plays with it, the more patterns that person will recognize. The best part? It is fun. Whether you solve it in 5 minutes or spend the night on it, the challenge keeps your brain active and sharp.
The next time you get stuck on a difficult Connections puzzle, don’t stress: Just take a moment to breathe, look at the words anew, and trust that the answer will be there; you only have to figure out the connection.