How to Play NYT Connections
The rules, the difficulty colors, and the strategies that actually help — everything you need beyond just today's hints.
What Is Connections by The New York Times?
Connections is The New York Times' daily word-grouping puzzle: sort 16 words into four hidden categories of four, without racking up four mistakes. Puzzle editor Wyna Liu created the game, and it launched in beta on June 12, 2023, quickly becoming the Times' second most-played game after Wordle.
Each puzzle rewards lateral thinking — words that look unrelated on the surface often share a clever, sometimes tricky, connection. Solve a group correctly, and Connections reveals its color, showing you exactly how difficult that link was.
Curious why we built a dedicated hint site instead of just answers? Read more about ConnectionsHint.
Created by Wyna Liu
NYT Games puzzle editor
Launched June 12, 2023
as a public beta
#2 most-played NYT game
right behind Wordle
How to Play NYT Connections
The rules are simple: you get 16 words, and your job is to sort them into four groups of four based on a shared connection — a category, theme, or wordplay link.
The Rules
- 1Scan all 16 words and look for patterns or shared meanings.
- 2Pick the four words you think belong together.
- 3Submit your guess.
- 4Guessed right? That group is removed from the board, color-coded by difficulty.
- 5Use the remaining words to spot the next group.
- 6Repeat until all four groups are solved.
- 7Watch your mistakes — you're allowed only four before the puzzle ends.
Four Mistakes Limit
Only four wrong guesses allowed. Solve Yellow and Green first — it makes Blue and Purple far easier, and saves your mistakes for when they count.
The Four Groups
Every puzzle has one of each — from easiest to hardest. See what each color usually hides ↓
Yellow
EasiestGreen
MediumBlue
HarderPurple
HardestThe NYT Connections Group Colors
Every group is color-coded by difficulty, and the order never changes: yellow is always the easiest, purple is always the hardest, with green and blue in between.
Yellow groups have the most direct connection — think straightforward synonyms or “types of X.” If you're just starting out, this is the group to look for first.
Only need a gentle nudge? A Yellow hint is usually enough to point you the right way without spoiling anything.
How to Solve the NYT Connections Puzzle Every Day
Some groups jump out at you; others are built to fool you. These strategies will help you spot both, no matter how tricky today's puzzle gets. Want a deeper breakdown of a specific puzzle? Check our strategy blog.
Start With the Obvious Group
Scan the board for words with the clearest shared meaning first — that's usually your Yellow or Green group. Locking one in early narrows the board and makes everything after it easier.
Let Elimination Do the Work
Every group you solve removes four words from the equation. Fewer words on the board means fewer possible combinations — so even a tough Purple category gets easier once the easy ones are out of the way.
Don't Fall for Red Herrings
Wyna Liu plants words that look like they fit two or three groups at once. If a word seems too convenient, pause — check whether the other three words actually support that connection, or if you're being led astray.
Look Past the Literal Meaning
Not every group is about definitions. The connection might be a phrase, a sound-alike, a hidden name, or a pun — so if the obvious meaning isn't working, try reading the words differently.
Draw on Pop Culture and General Knowledge
Movies, music, sports, brands, history, and celebrity names show up often in Connections. The wider your general knowledge, the faster these references click.
Sort by Word Type
Check whether a set of words shares a grammatical role — all names, all places, all verbs — that alone can hint at how a group is built.
Check for Shared Prefixes, Suffixes, or Roots
Some categories connect words that can all take the same prefix, suffix, or root. Try adding common word parts and see if a pattern forms.
Try the Fill-in-the-Blank Test
Drop each word into a common phrase or sentence structure. If several words complete the same phrase, that's likely your connection.
Slow Down Before You Guess
A group that looks right at first glance can still be a trap. Double-check your logic against all four words before submitting — you only get four mistakes, so make each one count.
Get to Know Your Trivia
According to Connections editor Wyna Liu, the Blue and Green groups are often the ones built around trivia and general knowledge — think file extensions, brand names, or "synonyms for" categories — rather than plain word meaning. That's exactly why brushing up on a few everyday topics can make these mid-tier groups click faster. Connections pulls from a wide range of subjects, so a bit of familiarity across the board goes a long way. Want more practice? Browse past puzzles in our archive:
