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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 Groups
Here are a few hints for the 421st Connections game to get you started:
How Did We Solve This Connections Game?
August 6th’s game was very middle-of-the-road.
The first group I spotted was Green, “One in a Research Study.” The words were guinea pig (which is where I started), participant, subject, and volunteer. I actually assumed we were looking for animals originally, since sheep was also on the board, but that didn’t work out.
I went with “Disapprove” as my starting word for the next group, and that made life easy. Looking for synonyms, object, protest, and mind were all pretty blatant. The Blue group was “Take Issue.”
With 8 words left, things got easier. Cloud, cotton, dandelion, and sheep are all white and fluffy looking? So I went with that. I was close—the Yellow category was “Fluffy White Things.”
That left bull, fog, matter, and shoe in Purple. As usual, I started by checking for words that fit before or after the words in the group, and quickly settled on “Horn.” Bull horn, fog horn, Matter horn (as in the mountain), and shoe horn. The group name was just “____ Horn.”
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.
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.
