To solve NYT Connections, find four words that share one precise rule—not just a loose association—and check that each word has no stronger fit elsewhere on the board. Read all 16 words before submitting, test literal and wordplay-based explanations, and use each guess to narrow the possibilities. There is one intended solution, but the puzzle is designed to make some words look as if they belong in more than one group.
What NYT Connections asks you to do
Connections presents 16 words. Sort them into four groups of four, with each group sharing a connection. The groups are color-coded by difficulty: yellow is the easiest and purple the trickiest, according to the NYT Help Center. The game has one intended solution, and its editors curate words and categories using the Oxford Dictionary.
The colors offer clues about the puzzle’s design, not a dependable formula for solving any particular board. Puzzle maker Wyna Liu describes purple as the wordplay category, while blue can sometimes depend on more specialized trivia. Yellow and green may involve more straightforward categories or synonyms. In her 2024 interview with The Atlantic, Liu said, “Purple is the wordplay category. The four words in that group are not defined by their literal meanings. It’s words that end with ___ or homophones or something.”
How to find a defensible group
Scan all 16 words before committing
A convincing trio can tempt you to grab the apparent fourth word immediately. Pause and check the rest of the board first: one or more of those words may have another plausible home that points to a better group. Overlap is part of the challenge, so the first connection you notice is not necessarily the intended one.
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State the rule in plain language
Write down what unites the words as a specific rule, such as “types of fruit” or “words that can follow the same term.” “These feel related” is a hunch, not an explanation. A useful rule accounts for all four members without stretching to include one merely because it seems associated with the others.
Try more than literal meanings
If ordinary categories do not explain the board, look at how words behave in phrases and how they sound or are spelled. A connection might involve words that precede or follow a shared term, a common ending, a homophone, or a secondary meaning. These are possibilities to test, not guaranteed clues. Liu’s color descriptions are tendencies, not rules that every puzzle follows.
Rank #2
Compare competing theories
When two candidate groups seem plausible, ask four questions:
- Coverage: Does the proposed rule explain all four words?
- Specificity: Is it a clear category or pattern, rather than a broad association?
- Ambiguity: Does any word have another credible place on the board?
- Word operation: Does the theory depend on a phrase, sound, spelling pattern, or secondary meaning?
This comparison helps distinguish a complete explanation from a tempting partial match.
Submit only when the explanation holds together
Independent strategy guides recommend taking a moment to check for competing fits before making a guess. Treat that as a practical habit rather than an official requirement: Liu says there is no single required method, noting, “The game works best when it’s just solved your own way.” Choose a pace and approach that you enjoy.
How to use mistakes and “one away” feedback
Independent Connections guides describe a four-mistake allowance and a “one away” signal when three submitted words belong together but the fourth is misplaced. The NYT Help Center page does not define that signal, so regard this explanation as guidance from those third-party guides, not official wording from NYT.
If you get “one away,” keep the strongest three-word connection in mind and reconsider the fourth. Check whether it has a different sense or phrase connection, then look for another board word that satisfies the rule more completely. If a guess fails, revise the theory instead of simply trying another vaguely related word. Once you solve a group, removing those four words can make the remaining possibilities easier to assess.
Which color clues are useful—and which are not
Color can set expectations, but it cannot tell you exactly how to solve a category. Liu identifies purple with wordplay and says blue can involve specialized knowledge; the NYT Help Center describes yellow as easiest and purple as trickiest. Those descriptions do not establish that every blue group is trivia or that every purple group uses a particular word trick.
So, treat a possible wordplay pattern as one candidate explanation among several. If a literal category fits all four words cleanly, do not reject it just because you expect wordplay in a certain color. The rule and the words themselves matter more than a color-based assumption.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to practise without mistaking puzzle research for player odds
You can practise with archived puzzles, but the available COLING 2025 paper’s reported figures about solving performance should not be read as everyday player success rates. A COLING 2025 paper evaluated a benchmark of 358 Connections-derived puzzles. It reports human evaluator accuracy of 39.33% on one-try instances, 56.0% with multiple attempts and no hints, and 60.67% with full hints; Claude 3.5 scored 40.25% in the paper’s full-hints condition. The human baseline involved three evaluators. These results describe performance under the paper’s benchmark conditions, not the share of NYT players who solve a daily game.
Where to play and what the archive does
According to the NYT Help Center, the daily puzzle is released at midnight in the player’s timezone. It lists the Games app, the Connections page, The Athletic site, and the News app as places to play; it also says registration is not currently required and play is free. Connections Bot and the full archive are subscriber features. The archive reaches back to June 12, 2023, and archived plays do not affect streaks. These product details can change; check the Help Center for current availability.
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