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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 Categories
Here are a few small hints for the 307th Connections game to get you started:
How Did We Solve This Connections Game?
April 13th was pretty average difficulty.
We initially saw lion and witch, and were looking at wardrobe, but we couldn’t find a fourth word to finish up a Narnia-related category. But the idea got us thinking in the right vein. Expanding our focus a little bit, we also noted scarecrow and wizard. Together, lion, witch, scarecrow, and wizard are “The Wizard of Oz” figures, which was the Green category.
With wardrobe excluded from Green, we started looking for other words that might go with it. Hair, makeup, and props were obvious choices, since they’re all related to film or theater production. Connections opted to group those words into “Film Departments” (Blue) rather than theater.
With 8 words left, we were having a little more difficulty than usual at this stage of the game. At first, clown and joker seemed like they might go together, but there aren’t two more words related to humor.
Shuffling the board a bunch resulted in clown, tent, and trapeze positioned together—then it clicked! These are things you see at a circus. Once we knew circus was the common element, ring was easy to pick out. Those words together were in the Yellow category, “Seen at the Circus.”
That meant that Purple had to be joker, lover, sinner, and smoker, but despite knowing they went together, we couldn’t figure out the connection. It turns out that the category was “I’m a ___” (Lyrics in “The Joker”).
In hindsight, we see it. Oh well, there’s always tomorrow.
How Do You Guess Connections Categories?
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.
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.
