The New York Times daily puzzle Connections challenges players to group sixteen words into four categories of four, based on shared themes. Today’s puzzle (#915) proved challenging, particularly the purple category. Here are the solutions, along with explanations of the underlying connections.
Decoding the Categories
The puzzle is structured around four color-coded difficulty levels. The yellow category is typically the easiest, followed by green, blue, and then the most difficult purple category.
Yellow: Contain
The words hold, house, keep, and store all relate to the concept of containment. They describe actions or places where something is kept secure or enclosed.
Green: Move in the Wind
The green category links blow, flap, sway, and wave. These words describe motion caused by air currents – from a gentle breeze to a forceful gust.
Blue: Vegetable Units
The blue grouping consists of bulb, ear, head, and spear. All these terms are units used when referring to vegetables. For instance, a head of lettuce, an ear of corn, a bulb of garlic, and a spear of asparagus.
Purple: Things Divided Into 12 Segments
The purple category proved the most elusive, connecting clock, foot, year, and zodiac. Each of these is divided into twelve segments: a clock face has twelve hours, a foot has twelve inches, a year has twelve months, and the zodiac has twelve signs.
Tracking Progress and Difficulty
The New York Times now offers a Connections Bot to analyze player performance. This tool provides a numeric score, win rate, and streak tracking for registered users. The puzzles themselves vary in difficulty, with some past iterations proving exceptionally challenging.
Noteworthy Past Puzzles
The most difficult puzzles to date included abstract themes:
- Puzzle #5: “Things you can set” (mood, record, table, volleyball)
- Puzzle #4: “One in a dozen” (egg, juror, month, rose)
- Puzzle #3: “Streets on screen” (Elm, Fear, Jump, Sesame)
- Puzzle #2: “Power ___” (nap, plant, Ranger, trip)
- Puzzle #1: “Things that can run” (candidate, faucet, mascara, nose)
The Connections puzzle continues to test players’ associative reasoning skills. The purple categories in particular often demand lateral thinking and a willingness to consider unconventional connections.
