The daily Connections puzzle game requires critical thinking and patience, but a few tips and tricks will help narrow down the answers and pick the right groups. The categories players have to identify and group the words in can be tricky or overarching, with the purple category often being the hardest to identify. Choosing carefully can allow you to solve the puzzle with the fewest mistakes.

Similar to the strategies for Wordle, the other popular puzzle game from the New York Times, Connections, requires some patience and careful thinking to solve. In this game, players pick groups of four words that are connected by a theme. The tricky part is understanding what words might overlap and spotting potential red herrings before making a mistake.

10 Look At Previous Themes

New Strategies From Old Puzzles

Look at the solutions to previous Connections puzzles to gain insight into how the puzzles are put together. This can give clues to solving the puzzle and examples of things to look for. As the purple category is the hardest, looking at how the purple category was organized in the past is a good way to get hints about what might be a theme for today’s puzzle. You can also gain similar information by watching other people solve past puzzles in real time, such as in this video from Vickie Carla on YouTube.

The four categories are dictated by level of difficulty and are represented by different colors, shown in the table below.

Additionally, that the puzzles are put together by an editor, so there is a human element to how they are constructed. Understanding how they have put them together before will help you now. If the editor thinks about it one way, you can deduce how they might think about it in the future as well. While it may be an odd way to think about the puzzle, looking at it from different angles is the best way to solve it.

9 Guessing Fast Is A Mistake

A Minimal Approach Is Best

The first guess is often the hardest and can be a big mistake if you are not patient. Make sure to look over all the answers rashly before submitting a guess. Try to figure out at least two categories before submitting any guesses, but three is even better.

Planning and picking at least two groups beforehand gives you time to decide. Moreover, blind guessing is often not profitable, as statistically, it will take many more guesses to get the first two sets than the last two.

For instance, if you submit them too fast, you might run through your allowed mistakes before you finish the puzzle, as the game ends automatically when you run out. This will prevent you from having a successful day at puzzle-solving. However, if you do run out of guesses, you might have a more successful day at one of the other New York Times puzzle games.

You get four mistakes, seen as little dots below the puzzle. Each dot represents a remaining allowance for a mistake.

8 Shuffle (Or Don’t)

See The Answers In A New Way

Often, in games like Wordle and Spelling Bee, the puzzle is not put together randomly. Likewise, the placement of the words in Connections is usually constructed in a way meant to trick you deliberately. Using the Shuffle button helps avoid those pitfalls and helps your brain understand the information in a new way. However, knowing the order and understanding what might be a trap is also valuable, so not shuffling can also give you information.

It is up to you and how you think that determines which method works better or what information you can glean from it. Additionally, you could screenshot the original puzzle structure so that you have that knowledge before shuffling it to help you think about the combinations in new ways. Overall, that will give you much more information that can help you solve the puzzle.

You can shuffle as many times as you want, so if you get stuck, try again.

7 Work On Real Paper - No, Really

Pen and Paper Wins Again

This might seem odd for a mobile and internet-based game, but writing the words down and working out the puzzle on paper before submitting guesses can help you think through the categories and possible connections between words. You can circle words in different colors to indicate what words you think go together, and this can help you spot overlapping words and red herrings before you make a mistake in the game.

You can additionally write out possible definitions of each word and any connections you can think of to other themes. For instance, the Connections solution for March 19th involved guitarists' names, so if you see something and think about a famous tie to that name, write it down, as it may turn out to be the solution after all.

6 Watch Out For Overlap

Too Many Words In One Category

One of the main pitfalls in the Connections game is words that can fit into more than one category. These words often get you into trouble and waste guesses. When you have a word that seems to overlap categories, think about all the possible definitions and look at the other words to see if there’s a better option for the group the word will fit into.

What makes this more complicated is that often, more than one word overlaps from multiple categories. For example, determining which one best fits with which category will be harder if two words easily fit into multiple categories in a singular puzzle. This can also signify a red herring or that you are asking the wrong questions, so be on the lookout for any tricks up the editor’s sleeve, which Wyna Liu says in the above TODAY video on YouTube is what she is trying to do.

5 Groups Of Four

No More, No Less

On a similar note, when three or five words seemingly fit together, this is often a sign that there is a red herring and something is not right with the categories you have decided on. You are looking for four groups with four words that fit together, not three or five words. Take this as a sign that you are not thinking of the category correctly, and you should look at all the words a second time.

Make sure to look at each word with new eyes, thinking about all the possible definitions and associations you can make with that word. Some categories, particularly in the purple theme, can be very abstract, so make sure you feel confident about four particular words fitting together before you submit any guesses. This will set you up for more future success, preventing you from wasting guesses.

4 Find The Weird Words

Or The Most Specific Ones

The weird words are often the biggest hints in the Connections game. Finding the words that stand out or have very specific definitions will often give you something to work with, as three other words have to share a common thread with that one word. It might also allow you to consider some of the more famous associations, like a name.

The weird words will work best when they have the least definitions. For example, in this Puzzling Games' demonstration of the Connections game, "Mix" can refer to many different things, but something like "Holland" would be very specific. Look out for these particular words to group the words with far more definitions and associations easier. Focusing on one word at a time can give you much more information than in other ways.

3 Reverse Engineering

Working Backwards To Save Hassle

Thinking about the puzzle in reverse is another way to think about the puzzle in a new way. You should immediately start looking for four words that fit together, but it can be much more helpful to reverse-engineer the solution by looking at individual words first. As stated before, getting a good idea of the definitions and associations with each word should be the first thing you do, but after that, you can look at groupings.

Start by looking at pairs of words and thinking about how they go together. If you can immediately add another two words to that pair but do not see any more, then you probably have a likely group. Take note of those words and move on. This will help you spot the overlapping words and ensure you look for exactly four words, as in the previous tips. While it may take some time, it will prove far more profitable than fruitless guessing.

2 Pay Attention When You Make Mistakes

Make Informed Decisions

When you do make a guess, the game will give you a hint. You will either receive no message from the game or “One Away.” This is more information than you would have had, but it is also the game’s way of getting you to make more rash guesses. Likely, you already have some idea of which three words fit together better than one of them. So, how do you move forward with this information?

Take note of the words you used and mark or circle the one you think is the outlier. You have more information now, but you should then move on and look for the other categories instead. Use the previous tip to reverse engineer some categories instead of blindly guessing. Use that knowledge to move on and attempt something else, only returning to the previous guess once you have the chance to make a more informed guess and get it correct.

1 Use Other Resources

Group Think

Other resources are available when you are at your wit’s end, staring at puzzles and unsure what to do. Some are spoiler-free, and some will give you the answers. For instance, you can always check Today’s Connections solution to provide you with the names of the categories without checking the actual solution later in the article. This can be a massive help without giving you more information than you want.

Additionally, the New York Times usually puts out a daily tip article for subscribers, but as that is not a free resource, you may want to try it on your own first. Other resources are also available, such as friends and family who might have more special interest knowledge than you do.

A second pair of eyes will help immensely. Last but not least, you can always walk away and come back later. Fresh eyes, like a second pair of eyes, will greatly help your cause in solving the solution to the daily Connections game.

Video Credit: Vickie Carla/YouTube, Puzzling Games/YouTube, TODAY//YouTube