Quick Links
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 397th Connections game to get you started:
Golden, Grey, Mother, Silly
How Did We Solve This Connections Game?
July 12th came pretty easily, even though I got one category through complete luck.
Auditorium, gym, lab, and library all make me think of rooms in a school, so I stuck them together. The Yellow group was “School Facilities.”
I started rolling around words in my head and realized that golden, grey, mother, and silly are all terms that I associate with “Goose.” That guess was right on the money; the Purple group was “____ Goose.”
This is where I got lucky. Odd and even are opposite, and black and red are usually opposite, too. I had no other connection besides the fact that both pairs of words are inverses. It turns out that the Green group was “Roulette Bets.” I’ve never played before, and if I’d been forced to puzzle this out, I’m not sure that I would have ever gotten there.
That left chocolate, peace, pigeon, and soap. Normally, I’d assume words this disjointed belong in Purple, but they must be in Blue. Still, I took the same approach as I normally might with Purple: What word can precede or follow all the words in the group? Dove? Dove chocolate is a chocolate brand, a peace dove is a classic symbol, pigeons are in the same family as doves, and dove is also a soap brand. The link between the words in Blue was “Associated with Dove.”
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.
