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To solve NYT Connections, find four groups of four words that each share a clear link—and check for competing interpretations before you submit. The puzzle is designed to make several words seem to fit more than one category, so a plausible set is not necessarily the intended one. A reliable approach is to identify candidate links, test every word against alternatives, and see whether the remaining board still breaks into coherent groups.
What are the rules of NYT Connections?
The New York Times Help Center says each puzzle presents 16 words, which players must divide into four groups of four. The connection might be a familiar category, such as four kinds of fish—Bass, Flounder, Salmon, and Trout—or a structural link, such as words that begin with FIRE: Ant, Drill, Island, and Opal. The official Connections help page says each puzzle has exactly one solution and is meant to be tricky because words can fit into multiple categories.
That overlap is the central solving challenge: you need a complete partition of the board, not merely one convincing quartet. A candidate group should explain all four words, and taking those words away should leave a plausible way to group the other 12.
How do you spot the word groups?
Read all 16 words before guessing
Scan the entire board once. Notice obvious relationships, but resist submitting the first four words that seem related. An early choice can use a word that has a stronger role elsewhere, or make the remaining words much harder to explain.
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Describe each possible connection
Put a short label on a candidate link: “types of ___,” “words that precede ___,” “synonyms for ___,” or “words containing ___.” Start with ordinary meanings and familiar phrases. If those do not account for a set, look at spelling, sound, prefixes, suffixes, or ways words might combine to form a familiar expression.
These are ways to generate hypotheses, not official NYT category rules. The Help Center’s examples show why it is worth checking both meaning and word structure: its examples include a semantic category and words sharing a beginning.
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Check every word’s alternative home
For each candidate quartet, ask where each word could fit if it does not belong in your proposed group. If one has an equally convincing alternative, hold the guess and inspect the rest of the board. Look for support for the connection in all four words—not just the three that make the pattern seem obvious.
Test the remainder before submitting
Mentally remove the candidate four and examine the other 12. Can you see a reasonable path to three more groups? If several leftovers seem unrelated, that may be a sign that one of your selected words belongs elsewhere. Recheck the leftovers for a shared phrase or structural pattern before committing.
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How should you handle overlapping or tempting patterns?
Compare candidate groups by how completely they explain the board, rather than how quickly you noticed them. A useful check is to ask:
- Evidence: Does one concise explanation fit all four words, or only the obvious matches?
- Ambiguity: Does any word have a competing meaning or plausible place in another group?
- Remainder: Do the unselected words still seem groupable?
- Guess cost: Is the evidence strong enough to spend a guess now, or should you keep testing?
A third-party strategy guide recommends checking alternative placements and using leftovers to test a hypothesis. Its examples are from Melio’s own grids, not NYT puzzles, so treat these as general solving habits rather than official rules or guaranteed ways to improve a result.
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What do the Connections colors mean?
The NYT Help Center identifies four colors—Yellow, Green, Blue, and Purple—and says Yellow is the easiest while Purple is the trickiest. The colors indicate relative difficulty; the Help Center does not say that a color always signals a particular kind of category. Use the color information to set expectations, not as proof that a group must be literal, use wordplay, or follow another fixed recipe.
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If the game displays a “one away” response, treat it as a reason to revisit the selected set and test a different member rather than repeating the same guess. The NYT Help Center page does not document this feedback, and the third-party strategy guide describes it in its own game. Check the live NYT interface if you need to confirm how feedback works there; it should not be mistaken for a rule established by the Help Center.
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How can you practice or review past puzzles?
According to the NYT Help Center, the daily puzzle releases at midnight in the player’s timezone and can be played on the listed digital platforms without registration or sign-in. The page also says Connections Bot is available to All Access, Home Delivery, and Games subscribers, while the archive—which includes puzzles back to June 12, 2023—is limited to All Access and Games subscribers. Access details can change, so consult the current official Help Center page for the latest information.
A 2025 Association for Computational Linguistics paper evaluated human participants and language models under three benchmark configurations: One Try, No Hints, and Full Hints. It reported human performance of 56% in the No Hints setup and 60.67% in the Full Hints setup. Those figures describe that paper’s benchmark study, not the success rate of all people who play the daily NYT puzzle. Read the 2025 paper for its methods and results.
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