If you’re hoping to navigate today’s challenging Connections puzzle, which has a particularly tricky theme, consider using these hints and strategies. Today’s puzzle features four categories that are all based on the same theme, with only slight variations. Recognizing this can make solving the puzzle a bit easier, but if you miss it, the challenge increases. Here are some tips to help you tackle the puzzle with confidence.
If you’re searching for a different kind of matching game, check out the daily Tiles puzzle from the New York Times. This game offers numerous ways to make matches, and most tiles have multiple layers you need to match with the layers on other tiles. If you pull off a long winning streak, you can rack up quite a score, making it fun to compare with friends and family.
The key aspect of today’s puzzle lies in the category names. Typically, you can grasp the essence of the category even if you miss the mark slightly because the definitions hint at it. However, today, the words seem almost completely disconnected in meaning, and the categories operate similarly to the purple category, which tends to stand out more frequently. To assist you, here are a few hints.
Instead of providing hints for each category, we’ve opted for a single hint that should significantly speed up your solving process.
Hint: All four category names conform to the WORD___ format for today’s puzzle, a pattern familiar to regular players. The WORD preceding the blank correlates with a unique characteristic of the puzzle, evident in how a solved Connections puzzle appears.
| YELLOW ___ | |||
|---|---|---|---|
CAB | JACKET | JOURNALISM | PAGES |
I thought I was well-prepared for this category type, but I was completely baffled when I first looked at this puzzle. The category didn’t even resonate with me initially, although some of the later ones did. While I grouped JOURNALISM and PAGES together, figuring out where to fit the other two words was trickier. I didn’t notice the overarching pattern until after finishing the puzzle, even while searching for categories that weren’t present.
| GREEN ___ | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| BERET | GOBLIN | SALAD | THUMB |
The convoluted paths I explored while trying to fit these words practically anywhere else were probably amusing for my computer to assess. I paired GOBLIN with a few other “birds,” and SALAD felt out of place. While I’ve heard of all these terms, besides the superhero one, they aren’t typically part of my daily vocabulary. It seems a bit redundant to call it “green SALAD” since salads should ideally be green unless stated otherwise, like a delightful fruit salad.
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This tricky little five by five crossword isn’t always as easy as it looks; here are a couple easy tips and tricks to beat your friends’ times!
| BLUE ___ | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| JAY | JEANS | MOON | WHALE |
discover that a Whalebird might exist, and there are certainly many peculiar-looking birds out there. However, I completely overlooked blue JEANS and blue MOON, which saddens me because I’ve analyzed the moon phases more than I should have.
| PURPLE ___ | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| HAZE | HEART | PROSE | RAIN |
This was the category I was closest to solving, though I mistakenly thought they were related to rhythmic beats. I briefly believed THUMB and JOURNALISM fit, and I genuinely thought I had it figured out. However, I think today’s theme ties into it being the 500th puzzle. Special milestones can significantly increase difficulty, so be more vigilant during these puzzles, as they may prove more complex than usual.
If Connections has reached its 500th installment, Wordle has undoubtedly surpassed 1000, so you can keep the puzzling momentum going by checking that one out as well.
