Quick Links
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 357th Connections game to get you started:
Apartment, Insults, Likes, Shovels
How Did We Solve This Connections Game?
June 2nd’s Purple group was particularly difficult, but the rest of the categories weren’t too bad.
The word I started with was lemming. Lemmings are small rodents, but lemming is also used as a word to describe someone that “always goes with the crowd.” Puppets, sheep, and followers also go along with that idea. The Yellow group was “Conformists.” Interestingly, lemmings don’t actually engage in mass suicide—that entire thing is a myth.
Equity, shares, stocks, and options are all finance related terms. That was a strong enough link that I just went for it. They were in the Green group, “Company Ownership Options.”
Buffalo and Phoenix are both animals (though one is fictional), but they’re also both cities in New York and Arizona, respectively. There aren’t any other animals in the remaining words, but Mobile is a city in Alabama, and Billings is a city in Montana. The Blue group was “U.S. Cities.”
That left Purple, but try as I might, I couldn’t figure out what connection tied apartment, insults, likes, and shovels together. It turns out that the group was named “What Digs Might Mean.”
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.
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.
