To solve NYT Connections, scan all 16 words, compare possible categories before committing, and submit the clearest complete group of four. Then reassess the remaining words: overlap is intentional, and a promising-looking set can be a decoy if another word fits better elsewhere.
How NYT Connections works
Each puzzle presents 16 words to divide into four groups of four, with one shared connection within each group. The New York Times Help Center says every puzzle has exactly one solution, but some words may appear to fit more than one category. Categories are color-coded by difficulty: yellow is easiest, followed by green and blue, with purple the trickiest. The colors indicate difficulty, not a required solving order. The Times says editors curate words and categories using the Oxford Dictionary. New York Times Help Center
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The daily puzzle is released at midnight in your timezone. The Help Center lists the NYT Games app, nytimes.com/games/connections, nytimes.com/theathletic, The Athletic app, and the NYT News app as places to play. It describes the daily game as free and says the full archive, dating back to June 12, 2023, is available to All Access and Games subscribers. These access details are subject to change. New York Times Help Center
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- Read the whole board. Look at all 16 words before selecting anything. Notice words that could have more than one meaning or seem to belong to several possible sets.
- Make candidate groups. Look for straightforward links such as synonyms or items in the same category, but also consider names, phrases, alternate definitions, and structural wordplay. Keep track of words that could fit more than one candidate.
- Check each group for exactly four strong fits. Ask whether all four words match the proposed connection in the same way. Then check whether another word on the board fits just as well—or whether one of your four has a more convincing home elsewhere.
- Compare competing explanations. Prefer the theory that accounts for its four words cleanly and leaves a coherent set of possibilities for the other groups. These are practical reasoning checks, not official NYT scoring criteria.
- Submit the group you are most sure about. Do not assume you must start with yellow or with the group that looks easiest. A distinct, well-supported group is a better first choice than a tempting but incomplete pattern.
- Rescan the remaining words. Once a group is removed, reconsider the board rather than sticking to your first theory. Removing a correct set may make a previously hidden connection easier to see.
- Test wordplay if the leftovers resist a literal reading. Look for hidden words, homophones, anagrams, shared prefixes or suffixes, and words that form phrases when the same word is added before or after each one.
How to choose between two plausible groups
When two explanations compete, evaluate both against the entire board—not just the four words in front of you. The puzzle’s intentional overlap means a set can look convincing while borrowing a word that belongs more naturally elsewhere.
- Fit: Do all four words match the category without stretching a definition?
- Consistency: Does the connection work the same way for every word, including any alternate meanings involved?
- Competing homes: Does one word have a stronger fit in another candidate group?
- Whole-board coherence: If you remove this set, do the remaining words still offer a plausible route to three groups of four?
These checks are a solving method, not an official NYT checklist. They help distinguish a complete category from a pattern that merely catches the eye. The Times describes the overlap itself as deliberate: words can seem to fit multiple categories. New York Times Help Center
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why the last group can be difficult
Early groups may make the board feel simpler, but the remaining words can still support several interpretations. If no literal category accounts for exactly four words, revisit alternate meanings and test structural patterns: a shared prefix or suffix, a phrase completed by the same word, or another form of wordplay. Avoid forcing a connection that fits only three words or depends on an inconsistent reading.
Rank #2
A 2025 paper in the COLING proceedings describes a dataset of 358 Connections puzzles from June 12, 2023, through June 3, 2024, and studies the game as a text-classification task. The authors cross-referenced the puzzles with a difficulty chart based on independent testers’ ratings. That historical research offers context for the task’s ambiguity; it is not a current count of puzzles or a measure of how every player performs. Association for Computational Linguistics, “NYT-Connections: A Deceptively Simple Text Classification Task that Stumps System-1 Thinkers”
Quick Recap
Rank #3
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