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Hints for Connections #967
Try these clues before revealing the full grid:
- One group consists of words for an amount or stretch of time.
- Another contains items or marks that can let someone into a place.
- Look for four names associated with modern crime series.
- For the wordplay group, remove one letter from each word; the remaining letters can be rearranged to spell a tree.
Full solution for February 2, 2026
Spoilers below: the four categories and their words are listed in the table.
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| Category | Words | Why they fit |
|---|---|---|
| DURATION | INTERVAL, PERIOD, SPAN, STRETCH | Each can describe an amount or stretch of time. |
| CREDENTIALS FOR ENTRY | LANYARD, PASS, STAMP, WRISTBAND | Each can serve as a credential or marker that permits entry. |
| MODERN CRIME SERIES PROTAGONISTS | BOSCH, CROSS, REACHER, RYAN | Each is a protagonist associated with a modern crime series. |
| TREES PLUS A LETTER | FAIR, MARPLE, POPULAR, PSALM | Remove one extra letter and rearrange the others to find a tree name. |
How the tree-name wordplay works
The final category is the trickiest because the tree names are not simply spelled in order. Remove the additional letter, then rearrange the remaining letters:
- FAIR: remove A to get FIR.
- MARPLE: remove R to get MAPLE.
- POPULAR: remove U to get POPLAR.
- PSALM: remove S to get PALM.
What Connections asks you to do
Connections presents 16 words and asks you to sort them into four groups of four based on a shared theme. Themes may rely on familiar meanings, less obvious associations, or wordplay. In puzzle #967, the time and entry groups are comparatively direct; identifying the crime-series names and spotting the extra-letter tree words require more lateral thinking.
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Where to play
TechRadar reported that Connections is available through NYT Games on desktop and mobile, with a new puzzle appearing at midnight in each time zone. Availability and access details can change; the solution above is for the archived February 2, 2026 puzzle.
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