July 12Th Insights: Deciphering New York Times Connections #397

Quick Links

• What Is Connections?
• Hints for Today’s Connections Groups
• Today’s NYT Connections Answers
• How Did We Solve This Connections Game?
• How Do You Guess Connections Groups?

Connections is a game from the New York Times that challenges you to find the association between words. It sounds easy, but it isn’t—Connections categories can be almost anything, and they’re usually quite specific. If you need a hand getting the answers, we’ve got you covered.

What Is Connections?

Connections is a game from the New York Times. The objective is simple: sort 16 words into groups of 4. Each group of words will be connected by some common idea or theme. That common element could be anything. We have seen everything from games that rely on the number of letters in the words to categories that require you to spot an extra letter at the end of the word. Sometimes they’re references to economics, other times they reference fairy tales. There is no telling what sort of association there will be between words.

Once you’re confident you understand the connection, select 4 words, then hit “Submit.” You have only four attempts in total, so don’t be too guess-happy.

Hints for Today’s Connections Groups

Here are a few hints for the 397th Connections game to get you started:

• Yellow: Also cafeteria.
• Green: Gambling.
• Blue: Think city birds.
• Purple: A large migratory bird.

If you still need help, the actual group names are:

• Yellow: School Facilities.
• Green: Roulette Bets.
• Blue: Associated with “Dove.”
• Purple: ____ Goose.

Today’s NYT Connections Answers

School Facilities (Yellow):

Auditorium, Gym, Lab, Library

Roulette Bets (Green):

Black, Even, Odd, Red

Associated with “Dove” (Blue):

Chocolate, Peace, Pigeon, Soap

____ Goose (Purple):

Golden, Grey, Mother, Silly

How Did We Solve This Connections Game?

July 12th came pretty easily, even though I got one category through complete luck.

Auditorium, gym, lab, and library all make me think of rooms in a school, so I stuck them together. The Yellow group was “School Facilities.”

I started rolling around words in my head and realized that golden, grey, mother, and silly are all terms that I associate with “Goose.” That guess was right on the money; the Purple group was “____ Goose.”

This is where I got lucky. Odd and even are opposite, and black and red are usually opposite, too. I had no other connection besides the fact that both pairs of words are inverses. It turns out that the Green group was “Roulette Bets.” I’ve never played before, and if I’d been forced to puzzle this out, I’m not sure that I would have ever gotten there.

That left chocolate, peace, pigeon, and soap. Normally, I’d assume words this disjointed belong in Purple, but they must be in Blue. Still, I took the same approach as I normally might with Purple: What word can precede or follow all the words in the group? Dove? Dove chocolate is a chocolate brand, a peace dove is a classic symbol, pigeons are in the same family as doves, and dove is also a soap brand. The link between the words in Blue was “Associated with Dove.”

How Do You Guess Connections Groups?

There is no quick, reliable way to approach Connections like there is with Wordle, since Connections isn’t algorithmic. However, there are a few things to keep in mind that can help.

1. Look for similar parts of speech. Are some words verbs and others nouns? Are some adjectives? Try mentally grouping them based on those categories and see if any other patterns jump out at you.
2. Are the words synonyms? Sometimes categories will just be synonyms for a phrase, or very close to synonyms. Don’t rely too closely on this, though. Occasionally, Connections will deliberately throw in words that are sometimes synonyms to mislead you.
3. Try saying the words. Sometimes, saying the words helps. One puzzle we saw included the words go, rate, faster, clip, pace, speed, move, commute, and hurry—all of which are obviously related to the idea of motion. However, when you say them, it becomes a little more obvious that only four (go, move, hurry, faster) are things you’d actually say to prompt someone to get moving.
4. Expect the red herring . Connections usually has words that could be plausibly, yet incorrectly, grouped together. Take the words Bud, Corona, and Light, as an example. You might instinctively see those three words together and assume they’re lumped together in a category related to beer—but they weren’t.
5. Look for distinct words. If a word on your board doesn’t have multiple meanings or can really only be used in one context, try using that word as the basis for a category.
6. Shuffle the board. Sometimes, moving words around will help you look at them in new ways.

If you didn’t solve this one, don’t feel too bad—there’s always tomorrow! And those words may align with a topic you’re interested in, giving you a leg up on the competition.

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