Connections is a game from the New York Times that challenges you to find the association between words. It sounds easy, but it isn’t—Connections categories can be almost anything, and they’re usually quite specific. If you need a hand getting the answers, we’ve got you covered.
What Is Connections?
Connections is a game from the New York Times. The objective is simple: sort 16 words into groups of 4. Each group of words will be connected by some common idea or theme. That common element could be anything. We have seen everything from games that rely on the number of letters in the words to categories that require you to spot an extra letter at the end of the word. Sometimes they’re references to economics, other times they reference fairy tales. There is no telling what sort of association there will be between words.
Once you’re confident you understand the connection, select 4 words, then hit “Submit.” You have only four attempts in total, so don’t be too guess-happy.
Hints for Today’s Connections Groups
Here are a few hints for the 373rd Connections game to get you started:
- Yellow: On the device that lets you manipulate your television.
- Green: To obscure or obfuscate.
- Blue: Something you might put in alcohol.
- Purple: James prefers his drinks shaken, not stirred.
If you still need help, the actual group names are:
- Yellow: Remote Control Buttons.
- Green: Hide from View
- Blue: Drink Garnishes
- Purple: First Word in Bond Movie Titles
Today’s NYT Connections Answers
Remote Control Button (Yellow):
Channel, Menu, Power, Volume
Hide From View (Green):
Block, Cover, Screen, Shield
Drink Garnishes (Blue):
Cherry, Olive, Sword, Umbrella
First Word in Bond Movie Titles (Purple):
Casino, Diamonds, Quantum, Tomorrow
How Did We Solve This Connections Game?
June 18th seemed a fair bit harder than June 17th.
The first word I looked at was power. I immediately started thinking about computers, and both menu and volume seemed like reasonable additions to a group about tech stuff. I tried throwing in screen, but that didn’t work. Ultimately, I realized we were talking about “Remote Control Buttons” rather than a digital user interface.
I went with screen next, since it was a problem in the previous group. Screen can mean a ton of different things, but none of the other words really made any sense with screen as a noun, so I opted to look for verbs. I settled on block, cover, and shield in a group with screen just because they can all refer to a way of hiding something. My guess was pretty close—Green was “Hide from View.”
Cherries, olives, swords, and umbrellas are all things you can put in drinks, and I couldn’t think of any other possible combination that would fit them together. Blue was “Drink Garnishes.”
That left casino, diamonds, quantum, and tomorrow—unrelated words if I’ve ever seen them. It took me a few minutes, but eventually I realized that they’re words in James Bond movie titles. Purple was actually called “First Word in Bond Movie Titles.”
How Do You Guess Connections Groups?
There is no quick, reliable way to approach Connections like there is with Wordle, since Connections isn’t algorithmic. However, there are a few things to keep in mind that can help.
- Look for similar parts of speech. Are some words verbs and others nouns? Are some adjectives? Try mentally grouping them based on those categories and see if any other patterns jump out at you.
- Are the words synonyms? Sometimes categories will just be synonyms for a phrase, or very close to synonyms. Don’t rely too closely on this, though. Occasionally, Connections will deliberately throw in words that are sometimes synonyms to mislead you.
- Try saying the words. Sometimes, saying the words helps. One puzzle we saw included the words go, rate, faster, clip, pace, speed, move, commute, and hurry—all of which are obviously related to the idea of motion. However, when you say them, it becomes a little more obvious that only four (go, move, hurry, faster) are things you’d actually say to prompt someone to get moving.
- Expect the red herring. Connections usually has words that could be plausibly, yet incorrectly, grouped together. Take the words Bud, Corona, and Light, as an example. You might instinctively see those three words together and assume they’re lumped together in a category related to beer—but they weren’t.
- Look for distinct words. If a word on your board doesn’t have multiple meanings or can really only be used in one context, try using that word as the basis for a category.
- Shuffle the board. Sometimes, moving words around will help you look at them in new ways.
If you didn’t solve this one, don’t feel too bad—there’s always tomorrow! And those words may align with a topic you’re interested in, giving you a leg up on the competition.
