Keeping a Connections win streak going can be quite the trying task, so you’re in the right place if you need of some helpful hints and tips.
The brainteaser was launched by The New York Times in June 2023 and has gone on to become the newspaper’s second-most played game behind Wordle, another word-based puzzle.
Connections challenges players to uncover threads connecting a series of words. Instructions on how to play the game are below. Clues and the answers for today’s puzzle are toward the end of the article.
How to Play Connections
Connections tasks players with grouping 16 words into four categories based on association. For example, a recent game linked the words “Autoharp,” “Contrabass,” “Pepperoni,” and “Rosebud” under the category “Ending With Beer Brands.”
Each of the four categories is labeled with a color, which also signifies their difficulty level. Yellow is the easiest category, followed by green, blue and purple. The puzzles are rarely straightforward, using homophones and wordplay, among other techniques, to keep players challenged.
The familiarity of the words used and how often they pop up in modern life are also difficulty factors, although less-common words aren’t only used in the harder categories. “Item overlap,” where one word can be linked to multiple categories, is another way Connections tests players.
If stuck, players can hit the shuffle button, which will mix up where the words appear on the screen.
Wyna Liu, a crossword editor at The New York Times who was asked to develop Connections, told Newsweek about her top tips for playing the game.
“My best piece of advice is to wait as long as you can before guessing,” she said.
“You may see the board and have completely identified the category, seeing five words that could belong in that category,” Liu continued. “Don’t try to guess the four words in that category because even though you know what the fifth member is, you won’t know which of the four it might not be,” which would ultimately waste a turn.
“Don’t do what I do, which is ‘rage solve,’” Liu said.
The answers for today’s Connections puzzle will be revealed at the end of this article, so scroll with caution if you want to work them out yourself.
‘Connections’ #587 Clues for Saturday, January 18
Newsweek has some hints to help you figure out today’s Connections categories.
Yellow: These words describe a strong yearning to do or have something.
Green: Each of these answers is a term describing a sharp projection.
Blue: For these answers, think of what you might see on vinyl.
Purple: These words each create a phrase when following two words.
‘Connections’ #587 Answers for Saturday, January 18
Yellow Category: DESIRE
Yellow Words: Drive, Impulse, Itch, Urge
Green Category: BARB
Green Words: Spine, Spur, Sticker, Thorn
Blue Category: INFO ON A RECORD
Blue Words: Album, Artist, Label, Track
Purple Category: TURN THE ___
Purple Words: Corner, Page, Tables, Tide
Did you guess the answers correctly? If so, congratulations. If not, there will be another opportunity to crack the puzzle tomorrow.
Connections is released at midnight in your local time zone. Newsweek will be back with another round of hints and tips for each new game.
The post ‘Connections’ January 18: Hints and Answers for Puzzle #587 appeared first on Newsweek.
