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Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →To solve NYT Connections, find four words that fit one precise rule—not merely a tempting association. Read all 16 words first, test each candidate against the whole board, and consider phrases, sound, spelling, and alternate meanings when literal categories do not account for the words.
What you are solving
Connections presents 16 words. The goal is to sort them into four groups of four, with each group sharing a connection. There is one intended solution, though individual words may appear to fit more than one category. NYT says its editors curate words and categories using the Oxford Dictionary. The four groups are colored yellow, green, blue, and purple; yellow is the easiest and purple the trickiest, according to the NYT Help Center.
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A practical way to work through the board
1. Scan all 16 words before settling on a group
Look across the entire board before submitting a plausible cluster. A word that seems to fit a familiar category may have another role in a more specific connection. Early guesses based on three promising words can be especially misleading when the fourth has a convincing alternative home.
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2. State the rule in plain language
Write or say what connects the four words. “All are fruits” is testable; “they feel related” is not yet a category. A strong candidate explains every member with one clear rule, phrase pattern, or word operation. If you need a different explanation for each word, you may be fitting the answer to the words rather than finding their shared connection.
3. Compare competing groups
When two patterns seem possible, weigh them against four questions:
- Coverage: Does the rule explain all four words?
- Specificity: Is it a distinct category rather than a broad association?
- Ambiguity: Does a member have another plausible place on the board?
- Word operation: Does the connection depend on a phrase, sound, spelling, or secondary meaning?
This is a useful decision aid, not an official scoring formula. It helps separate a complete explanation from an attractive near-match.
Rank #2
4. Look beyond literal definitions
If ordinary categories do not explain the board, try reading words as parts of expressions or as material to manipulate. Ask whether a shared word can come before or after each item; check beginnings and endings; listen for homophones; and consider secondary meanings. Connections puzzle maker Wyna Liu describes purple as the wordplay category, including words that end with a shared term or homophones. She also notes that yellow and green can include familiar categories or synonyms, while blue can involve more specialized trivia. These are tendencies, not reliable labels for every puzzle. In a 2024 interview with The Atlantic, Liu said, “Purple is the wordplay category. The four words in that group are not defined by their literal meanings. It’s words that end with ___ or homophones or something.”
5. Submit when the explanation holds together
Before you send a group, check that all four words fit the same defensible rule and that no member more convincingly belongs elsewhere. Delaying a guess long enough to test alternatives is a strategy recommendation, not an official requirement. There is no mandatory order for solving groups: Liu says, “The game works best when it’s just solved your own way.”
6. Treat feedback as a clue, then revise your theory
Independent how-to guides describe a four-mistake allowance and a “one away” message when three of the four submitted words are correct and one is misplaced. If that response appears, hold on to the strongest three-word idea and reconsider the fourth rather than abandoning the entire pattern immediately. The NYT Help Center explains the basic mechanics but does not define that message, so treat this as guidance reported by third-party guides, not an official NYT rule. If a group fails, also check whether a word has another sense or fits a phrase-based category you overlooked.
Why the colors can mislead
The colors indicate a general difficulty progression, not a dependable decoding system. Liu calls purple the wordplay category and yellow the most straightforward, but she says blue can sometimes be hardest for a solver because it may rely on specialized knowledge. A familiar-looking cluster may be a decoy, and not every difficult group is difficult for the same reason. Use color as broad context; let the words and the strength of the rule determine your guess.
What research on solving does—and does not—show
A 2025 COLING paper by Angel Yahir Loredo Lopez, Tyler McDonald, and Ali Emami evaluated a benchmark of 358 Connections-derived puzzles. Its results describe performance in that experimental setup, not the share of everyday NYT players who solve a daily puzzle. The paper reports human-evaluator accuracy of 39.33% on one-try instances, 56.0% with multiple attempts and no hints, and 60.67% with full hints; its human baseline used three evaluators. Claude 3.5 reached 40.25% in the paper’s full-hints condition. These figures are not daily-player success rates or a measure of how often any individual should expect to solve a puzzle.
Where and when to play
According to the NYT Help Center, the daily puzzle is released at midnight in the player’s timezone. It lists the Games app, the Connections page, The Athletic site, and the News app as places to play. The Help Center also says registration is not currently required and play is free; Connections Bot and the full archive are subscriber features. The archive goes back to June 12, 2023, and archived plays do not affect streaks. These product details can change, so check NYT’s current Help Center information if access or subscription status matters to you.
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