The New York Times Connections puzzle for April 22, 2024, was game #316. Its four groups were friend slang, basement adjectives, stubble, and ways to describe a collection of money. The full answers are below.
Connections #316 answers for April 22, 2024
The board contained MUSTY, WHISKERS, FUND, DARK, FUZZ, SHADOW, MATE, PAL, POT, DANK, SCRUFF, CHUM, COLD, BUD, KITTY, and POOL.
| Color | Category | Words |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow | Slang for friend | BUD, CHUM, MATE, PAL |
| Green | Adjectives for a basement | COLD, DANK, DARK, MUSTY |
| Blue | Stubble | FUZZ, SCRUFF, SHADOW, WHISKERS |
| Purple | Collection of money | FUND, KITTY, POOL, POT |
The complete groupings are also listed by Try Hard Guides and Connections Hint.
Why the words fit
Yellow: Slang for friend
BUD, CHUM, MATE, and PAL are informal words for a friend or companion.
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Green: Adjectives for a basement
COLD, DANK, DARK, and MUSTY describe conditions or smells associated with a basement.
Blue: Stubble
FUZZ, SCRUFF, SHADOW, and WHISKERS point to facial hair. SHADOW means a five-o’clock shadow here, not a person’s name or a pet name.
Purple: Collection of money
FUND, KITTY, POOL, and POT can each mean a shared amount of money collected for a purpose. In this sense, a “kitty” is a common pot of pooled contributions, not a cat.
The board’s tempting overlap
Several of the facial-hair words can also sound like pet names, which makes FUZZ, SCRUFF, WHISKERS, and SHADOW an easy set to misread. A contemporaneous player discussion also shows that KITTY’s pooled-money meaning surprised at least one solver. The safer approach is to verify that all four words share the category’s intended meaning before submitting a promising partial match.
Rank #3
- Two teams race to identify their agents from a 5×5 grid, guided by a spymaster who knows each card’s identity
- Spymasters give one-word clues and a number to link multiple cards, encouraging creative thinking
- Teammates guess words matching the clue while avoiding the other team’s agents, bystanders, and the assassin
- Revealing the assassin ends the game instantly, adding high-stakes tension
- Teams may guess up to the clue number plus one, allowing strategic risks or revisiting old clues
A quick approach to this board
Start with the most direct relationship: BUD, CHUM, MATE, and PAL are clearly friend slang. Then look for the four basement descriptors. With those groups removed, compare the remaining words by sense rather than surface association: SHADOW completes the facial-hair set, and KITTY completes the money set. Try Hard Guides describes Connections as finding four words with a common thread, with up to four mistakes allowed; that gameplay description comes from the secondary guide, rather than an official rules page.
Quick Recap
Best Value
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Rank #4
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