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 342nd Connections game to get you started:
Clock, Mattress, Mousetrap, Trampoline
How Did We Solve This Connections Game?
May 18th was immediately daunting. There were so many long words! It seemed likely at least one group would involve the words themselves, so I started looking at them.
One thing that jumped out at me pretty quickly was the bulldog, catfish, horsefish, and turtledove are all words made up of multiple animal words. I tried them out as a group and got Yellow, “Animals Whose Names Are Two Animals.”
Dogleg, hairpin, switchback, and zag are all terms that can mean a “Sharp Turn,” and that was the exact group name for Green.
Clock, mattress, mousetrap, and trampoline are connected by one thing: they have springs. It was a weak link, but it was all I had, so I ran with it. Surprisingly enough, Purple was actually “Things with Springs.”
That left the words categories, charades, fishbowl, and werewolf. Some of these I recognize as games, so I’m assuming they’re all games of some kind. Blue was “Classic Party Games.”
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.
