If today’s Connections game is proving a struggle, Newsweek has provided some helpful hints to help you on your road to puzzle success.
Connections, the latest New York Times‘ word game, has taken the internet by storm since its June 2023 launch. It is now the news outlet’s second most-played brainteaser after the hugely popular Wordle.
While Wordle, which was created by Josh Wardle, requires players to find one word a day, Connections challenges players to find common threads between a series of words. Players must group them and name the categories.
Like Wordle, the new game can be played online on web browsers and mobile devices.
How to Play ‘Connections’
Each puzzle consists of 16 words, with each group of words separated into four categories. The uniting themes are from a broad range of categories.
If all four words are correctly placed into each set, those words will be removed from the board. Each incorrect guess counts toward the mistake tally. Players can make up to four mistakes before the game ends.
Should it make the process of guessing the connections easier, players can shuffle and rearrange the board.
The board also has a color-coding system representing levels of difficulty. Yellow represents the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. A group’s color will only be revealed once the words in a group have been correctly connected.
To make the task even trickier, sometimes a word can belong to more than one category—but there is only one correct answer.
Connections editor Wyna Liu has advised that if you notice that there are five or more words that belong to one category, try pivoting to a different category before making your first guess.
“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,” Liu said.
The answers for today’s Connections will be revealed at the end of this article, so please scroll down with caution if you want to work them out for yourself.
‘Connections’ #316 Clues for Monday, April 22
Newsweek has some hints to help you figure out today’s Connections categories.
Yellow: These words are associated informal terms for those close to you.
Green: For these words, think of the conditions of the lower part of a building.
Blue: These words are associated with the names given to facial hair.
Purple: Each of these words is associated with a pool of cash.
‘Connections’ #316 Answers for Monday, April 22
Yellow Category: SLANG FOR FRIEND
Yellow Words: Bud, Chum, Mate, Pal
Green Category: ADJECTIVES FOR A BASEMENT
Green Words: Cold, Dank, Dark, Musty
Blue Category: STUBBLE
Blue Words: Fuzz, Scruff, Shadow, Whiskers
Purple Category: COLLECTION OF MONEY
Purple Words: Fund, Kitty, Pool, Pot
Did you guess the answers correctly? If so, congratulations. If not, there will be another opportunity to crack the puzzle tomorrow.
Connections is released at midnight in your local time zone. Newsweek will be back with another round of hints and tips for each new game.
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.