After the extraordinary success of Wordle, a word based game that was purchased by The New York Times in January 2022, the newspaper decided to launch Connections in 2023.
Like Wordle, Connections quickly developed a dedicated following across the English speaking world, with some players taking to social media daily to share their results along with advice.
How to Play ‘Connections’
Each day Connections players are presented with 16 words, which they are tasked with dividing into four categories based around common characteristics.
The four categories are all color coded to show their difficulty, with yellow being the easiest then green, blue and purple. Players choose four words at a time and if they are connected, constituting one of the four categories, they light up and are removed from the board. At this point their color is also revealed, showing how difficult the quiz setters expected that set of connections to be.
If a player guesses incorrect groups of words four times the game ends and they are defeated. There is no time limit for the game.
At any point the player can shuffle the board resulting in the 16 words being randomly repositioned.
According to Connections editor Wyna Liu, if you have five cards that all seem to belong in the same category your best move may well be to try and figure out a different category, then come back to the original one once some of the words are eliminated.
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She commented: “Doing so might take one of those extra cards out of contention, or at least remove a few cards from the board, making other categories easier to see.”
The answers for Sunday’s Connections puzzle will be revealed at the end of this article, so please scroll down with caution if you want to work them out yourself.
‘Connections’ #406 Clues for Sunday, July 21
Newsweek has some hints to help you figure out today’s Connections categories.
Yellow: Features heavily in politics.
Green: How something is built.
Blue: Used for woodwork.
Purple: Calculation related.
‘Connections’ #406 Answers for Sunday, July 21
Yellow Category: WAYS TO SUPPORT A CANDIDATE
Yellow Words: CAMPAIGN, CANVASS, ORGANIZE, STUMP
Green Category: CONSTITUTION
Green Words: COMPOSITION, FABRIC, MAKEUP, STRUCTURE
Blue Category: CARPENTRY TOOLS
Blue Words: CLAMP, FILE, LEVEL, SAW
Purple Category: MATH ABBRECIATIONS
Purple Words: LOG, MAX, MOD, TAN
Well that was good fun! Did you work out the answer? If so congratulations but please don’t be put off playing if not. Practice makes perfect and the next Connections puzzle will be published by The New York Times on Monday. Newsweek will of course be back once again with another round of hints and tips.
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.