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 333rd Connections game to get you started:
How Did We Solve This Connections Game?
May 9th’s game wasn’t particularly difficult.
The first group I spotted was Purple. What do bill, egg, fur, and venom have in common? Taken together, they’re the unusual combination of traits that a platypus has. The group was properly named “Trademarks of a Platypus.”
Platypus venom is really quite interesting, as long as you’re not unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end. Though it isn’t known to be deadly to humans, platypus venom can cause excruciating pain for days that will often linger for weeks or months, and the pain is not alleviated by morphine or other painkillers.Don’t mess with the cute-fuzzy-duck animal.
The next group I spotted was Yellow, “Container Closures.” At first, I thought they were specifically related to alcohol. Beer typically has tabs or caps, and wine has corks. The only alcohol that typically comes with alidis moonshine, since it is stereotypically stored in mason jars. The moonshine link seemed weak, but overall, the connection was too tempting to ignore. Luckily, my guess wasn’t too far off the mark.
With 8 words left, it was pretty easy to spot the remaining two groups.
Green was “Duration,” and contained the words period, spell, stretch, time. That wasn’t particularly difficult, though I was initially tempted to look for time-related words that referred to a specific duration.
Blue, the last group I spotted, was “Regulate.” The 4 words were check, contain, curb, and limit. It is actually a little surprising that it wasn’t the first group I spotted, given how straight forward it is.
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.
