June 13Th New York Times Connection Challenge: Solutions & Insights (#368)

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 368th Connections game to get you started:

• Yellow: When something is pleasing.
• Green: When a movie is popular.
• Blue: Things with political slogans.
• Purple: There is a missing word at the beginning.

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

• Yellow: Enjoy
• Green: Blockbuster
• Blue: Campaign Swag
• Purple: Word After “Copy.”

Today’s NYT Connections Answers

Enjoy (Yellow):

Appreciate, Dig, Fancy, Like

Blockbuster (Green):

Hit, Sensation, Smash, Success

Campaign Swag (Blue):

Button, Hat, Shirt, Sticker

Words After “Copy” (Purple):

Cat, Editor, Paste, That

How Did We Solve This Connections Game?

June 13th was less scary than yesterday’s game, thankfully.

The first word I looked at was like. I took it at face value and started searching for synonyms, and easily settled on appreciate, dig, and fancy. Together, those words made up the Yellow group, “Enjoy.”

I’d previously considered success when trying to figure out the Yellow group, so I started there. It occurred to me that “a hit” can refer to a successful song or movie, so I went in that direction first. Sensation (as in “Barbenheimer was a Box Office sensation”) seemed like a good fit, and smash is also vaguely related. Hit, sensation, smash, and success were all in the Green group, “Blockboster.” It turns out my movie hunch was correct!

With 8 words left, things got easier. Button, hat, shirt, and sticker are all things you put slogans or advertisements on, and it seemed very likely they were in a group, so I just went for it. Blue was “Campaign Swag.” What, no yard signs?

That left cat, editor, paste, and that. I wasn’t sure what the connection was between the words, but I knew it was a reasonable bet that there was a word omitted at the beginning or the end, so I just blindly started guessing.

Not much goes with paste besides cut or copy, and cut doesn’t fit with any of the others. Copy, on the other hand, fits with them all. Copy cat, copy editor, copy paste, and copy that are all pretty common phrases.

Purple was literally just “Words after Copy.”

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.

Also read: