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For the May 12, 2024, NYT Connections grid, the four groups are playful teasing, cuts of beef, abbreviations, and cocktails with place names removed. The puzzle is commonly identified as #336, though some archives number that date differently; use the date to confirm you have the right grid.
May 12 Connections answers
Here are the 16 words and their commonly reported groups for the May 12, 2024 puzzle:
| Category | Words |
|---|---|
| Playfully poke fun at | KID, NEEDLE, RIB, TEASE |
| Cuts of beef | CHUCK, FLANK, LOIN, ROUND |
| Acronyms / initialisms | MIA, OMG, PIN, RAM |
| Cocktails minus place names | LIBRE, MAMA, MULE, SLING |
The complete grid is CHUCK, FLANK, KID, LIBRE, LOIN, MAMA, MIA, MULE, NEEDLE, OMG, PIN, RAM, RIB, ROUND, SLING, TEASE. Two answer guides report the same groupings: CNET and Forbes.
Why the words fit
Playfully poke fun at
To kid, needle, rib, or tease someone is to make fun of them in a playful way. RIB is a tempting decoy for the beef group, but here it belongs with the teasing verbs.
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Cuts of beef
CHUCK, FLANK, LOIN, and ROUND are names of beef cuts.
Acronyms and initialisms
MIA, OMG, PIN, and RAM are abbreviations formed from initial letters. “Initialisms” is the more precise label for forms usually spoken letter by letter; the answer guides commonly call this group “acronyms.”
Cocktails minus place names
Each fragment is what remains after removing a place name from a cocktail name: Cuba Libre becomes LIBRE, Mama (as in a drink name) becomes MAMA, Moscow Mule becomes MULE, and Singapore Sling becomes SLING.
A useful way to read the grid
Start with the less ambiguous verb set: KID, NEEDLE, RIB, and TEASE all describe teasing. Then CHUCK, FLANK, LOIN, and ROUND form the beef cuts. The remaining short strings make the abbreviation group, leaving LIBRE, MAMA, MULE, and SLING as cocktail-name fragments. This is a way to see the completed grid, not a claim about the puzzle’s official solving sequence.
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Answer guides commonly call the May 12 grid #336, but a retrospective archive reports that some listings assign that date #355. The guides are secondary sources, not the NYT’s official archive, so the date is the safer identifier when checking a past puzzle. See Tom’s Guide for the reported archive-number discrepancy.
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