What is Connections?
Connections is a word grouping puzzle. Sixteen words are shuffled into a grid, and hidden inside them are four groups of four that each share a theme. Your job is to find all four groups before your mistakes run out.
The format looks gentle and is anything but. The words are chosen so that several appear to belong to two or three groups at once, and untangling those red herrings is the real game.
How to play
Select four words you believe share a connection and lock the guess in. If they form a group, it is revealed and removed from the grid. If not, the mistake counts against you, and a fourth wrong guess ends the run.
Connections range from plain categories to phrases, hidden prefixes, or words that all precede a common partner. The groups also vary in difficulty, and the toughest one is usually built from the words you kept trying to use elsewhere.
Spotting the red herrings
Do not lock in the first group you see. The obvious group is where the trap words live, so check each of its members for a second home before you commit.
Count the candidates. If five words seem to fit a theme, either the theme is wrong or one of the five belongs elsewhere, and working out which one usually cracks two groups at once.
Once three groups are down the last four words are forced, so spend your care early. Most lost runs die on the first two guesses rather than the last.
The daily grid
One shared grid per day, arriving at midnight UTC, identical for every player. Finishing the daily grid keeps your streak going.
Connections is currently in development. This page describes the game as it will launch. In the meantime, Hashiwokakero and Chess Solitaire are live with daily puzzles.
Connections FAQ
Can a word fit two groups?
It can look that way, and that is deliberate. Only one arrangement of all sixteen words solves the grid, so a word with two plausible homes has exactly one true one, and the surrounding words tell you which.
How many mistakes are allowed?
Four wrong guesses end the run, so you can survive three. A careful early game leaves room for one educated gamble at the end.
Is this the same as the New York Times game?
It is the same puzzle format, popularised by the New York Times in 2023, with our own grids, word choices and daily schedule.