Each category in today's Connections puzzle is unique, making it very difficult to determine how certain words should be paired together. On one hand, I found that some words are defined by how they're used, while others form groups based on how they sound. With the right clues, you can invoke each of your senses to find the right answers by analyzing each word in today's puzzle carefully.

Most NYT games, such as the visual Vertex puzzles, typically ask you to use one context for a concept to find an answer. However, today's Connections puzzle questions how you sound out words, use their grammatical context, and understand their many definitions all at the same time. With only four chances to make a mistake, this leaves a lot of information to process with a very small margin for error.

Today's Connections Category Hints

May 7 #696

I found the right answers for today's puzzle by looking up every way in which the available words can be used. For example, SWORDS can be medieval weapons, but the plural nature of this word also makes it eligible to define a suit of Tarot cards. Try to write sample sentences using words to start forming some patterns, then evaluate which words stand out the most from others in the larger puzzle.

For those struggling to find the categories present in today's puzzle, use these clues to get a starting idea of what they might be:

• One category is about things you would use to describe getting better from a fractured body part.
• One category is about things you would use as to break up a sentence from including its two parts from one another.
• One category is about things used to describe suits used in a fortune reading.
• One category is about things that sound like valuable minerals people put in jewelry.

If you want to go all out with some of your clue-searching, you should look at the category names to get some extra help. There are also spoilers for each category if you find yourself needing to solve a single category to finish up.

Today's Connections Answers

May 7 #696

Yellow Answers: Revealed & Explained

This was an easier category for me to find the answers to, as HEAL, MEND, and RECOVER were similar enough concepts to pair initially. However, it took me some time to find another word for this group, as I thought KNIT was referring to the act of knitting instead of healing in any way. Only by realizing that KNIT was a term that meant healing a broken bone did I fully understand this category correctly.

Green Answers: Revealed & Explained

As someone who writes a lot, this category was straightforward for me once I realized its theme. The words BESIDES, BUT, and EXCEPT are all perfect to separate sentences while not including the first part of it with its latter half. SAVE was harder to put into this group, but no other words made sense to put into this section of the puzzle.

Blue Answers: Revealed & Explained

SWORDS and WANDS are tied to fantasy, making them simple enough to pair into a Connections category. That being said, I struggled to find other words that fit this theme, until I looked up the definition of PENTACLES. The word PENTACLES is a suit of a Minor Tarot deck, as well as CUPS, SWORDS, and WANDS, allowing for a unique pattern that makes sense once you understand what each term means.

Purple Answers: Revealed & Explained

Sounding out each word in today's puzzle certainly made some concepts clearer as I searched for various patterns. OPEL and PURL together almost sound like Opal and Pearl, two types of precious gems used in most jewelry. By this logic, QUARTS can sound like Quartz and CHORAL is close enough to Crystal to complete this piece of the puzzle.

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