The New York Times’ daily Connections puzzle challenges players to group sixteen words into four categories of four, based on shared themes. Today’s puzzle (#920) includes a particularly tricky purple category that requires identifying hidden connections within the words themselves. Here’s a breakdown of the clues, answers, and strategies to help you solve it.
Daily Puzzle Performance Tracking
The Times has introduced a Connections Bot, similar to its Wordle bot, allowing players to track their performance. Registered users can now monitor their win rate, perfect scores, and streaks, offering a new layer of engagement for competitive solvers.
Hints for Today’s Groups
The puzzle’s difficulty varies by color-coded category. Here are hints, ranked from easiest to hardest:
- Yellow: Think about ways to move on water.
- Green: Consider terms for surfaces without curves or bumps.
- Blue: Focus on popular automotive brands, excluding one major manufacturer.
- Purple: This one’s deceptive. The connection lies in religious figures, but with a subtle twist involving their initial letters.
Solutions to Today’s Connections Groups
Here’s the breakdown of each category and its corresponding answers:
- Yellow (Human-Powered Watercraft): Dugout, Kayak, Raft, Shell. These are all types of boats propelled by human effort.
- Green (Flush): Even, Flat, Level, Plane. These words describe surfaces or alignments that are perfectly smooth.
- Blue (Honda Models): Accord, Civic, Odyssey, Pilot. All are well-known vehicle models produced by Honda.
- Purple (Biblical Figures + Starting Letter): Fluke (Luke), Label (Abel), Madam (Adam), Truth (Ruth). This category requires identifying biblical names concealed within other words.
Quick Tips for Solving Connections
To improve your success rate, consider these strategies:
- Read Aloud: Saying the clue words out loud can reveal subtle connections based on common phrasing.
- Avoid Obvious Groupings: The puzzle designers intentionally mislead with straightforward associations. Don’t assume the first connection you see is the right one.
- Break Down Words: Look for hidden meanings within compound words or anagrams. The puzzle often exploits wordplay.
The Connections puzzle is designed to test your vocabulary, logic, and pattern recognition skills. These answers and tips should help you crack today’s challenge and keep your streak alive.
