Happy birthday Connections! June 12 marks one year since The New York Times launched the word game, which has gone on to become an online sensation.
The word puzzle is now the news outlet’s second-most-played game after Wordle. While similarly word-based, 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’
The brainteaser tasks players with grouping 16 words into four categories based on association. For example, Tuesday’s game linked the words “bi,” “buy,” “by,” and “bye,” which all came under the category “homophones.”
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. However, the puzzles are rarely straightforward, using homophones and wordplay, among other techniques, to keep things interesting.
The uniting themes span a wide range of topics, from movie franchises to body parts. Once you have figured out one group, those words are removed from the grid. However, players only get four guesses. Each incorrect guess adds to your mistake tally, and after four wrong answers, it’s game over.
Connections also has a shuffle button, which will mix up where the words appear on the screen to help players who might be stuck.
Explaining why the game has four difficulty levels, NYT puzzle editor Wyna Liu said she toyed with different ways to make Connections more of a challenge.
“There would have to be a mix of categories for the game to feel challenging and satisfying,” she said in the NYT. “Some categories might be defined by their use of wordplay—palindromes, homophones, adding or dropping letters and words—rather than the literal meanings of the words on the cards.”
However, 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.
“Caution was needed when including items that might stand out in the grid, since they would invite immediate scrutiny,” Liu explained.
All of today’s words may be recognizable as the names of hit movies. However, players have been challenged to look a little deeper for connecting factors.
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’ #367 Clues for Wednesday, June 12
Newsweek has some hints to help you figure out today’s Connections categories.
Yellow: These words are associated with a major U.S. city.
Green: Each of these answers contain words that sound like the next.
Blue: For these answers, think of distances and sizes.
Purple: These words focus on a variety of non-humans.
‘Connections’ #367 Answers for Wednesday, June 12
Yellow Category: PLACES IN NEW YORK CITY
Yellow Words: Chinatown, Dumbo, Manhattan, Wall Street
Green Category: RHYMING TITLES
Green Words: Be Kind Rewind, E.T., Fright Night, Kill Bill
Blue Category: ENDING IN UNITS OF MEASUREMENT
Blue Words: Hedwig and the Angry Inch, My Left Foot, The Green Mile, The Longest Yard
Purple Category: STARTING WITH ANIMALS
Purple Words: Beetlejuice, Dogma, Foxy Brown, Octopussy
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.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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