NYT Connections Game: Rules, Colours and Solving Tips

NYT Connections is a daily word puzzle from The New York Times. You get 16 words and must sort them into four groups of four, where each group shares a hidden link. It sounds simple, but the puzzle is built to tempt you into wrong groups. This guide explains the rules, what the four colours mean, how mistakes work, where the game came from, and practical tips that help you solve it more often. It replaces an older post on this page that described the game wrongly as a chain of links between people or words.

Quick Facts

Item	Detail
Made by	The New York Times Games team
Editor	Wyna Liu
Launched	Beta from 12 June 2023; all platforms from August 2023
Goal	Sort 16 words into 4 groups of 4
Colours	Yellow, green, blue, purple, from easiest to trickiest
Mistakes allowed	Four
New puzzle	Every day

How to Play NYT Connections

1. Look at the grid of 16 words.
2. Find four words that share a link, such as a category, a hidden word or a phrase they complete.
3. Tap the four words to select them, then press Submit.
4. If you are right, the group is locked in, shown in its colour with the name of the link.
5. If you are wrong, you lose one of your four mistakes. If three of your four words were right, the game tells you that you were “one away”.
6. Keep going until you find all four groups or run out of mistakes.

Each puzzle has only one correct solution, even when several groupings seem to work at first.

What the Four Colours Mean

Colour	Difficulty	Typical kind of link
Yellow	Easiest	A plain category, such as types of fruit
Green	Moderate	A category that needs a little more thought
Blue	Harder	A narrower or less obvious link
Purple	Trickiest	Usually wordplay, such as hidden words or words that go before or after another word

You do not have to solve the groups in colour order. Many players find the yellow group first, but some like to hunt for purple early because it often explains why certain words look out of place.

Where the Game Came From

The New York Times opened Connections in beta on 12 June 2023. It proved popular quickly, and in August 2023 the company brought it to all platforms, including its Games app. In a press release on 28 August 2023, the company said Connections had become its second most played game after Wordle, and that roughly nine in ten players finished each day’s puzzle. Wyna Liu edits the puzzles.

Why the Puzzle Feels Tricky

Connections is designed with red herrings. A grid might hold five or six words that seem to fit one category, but only four belong there. The extra ones belong to other groups. This is why rushing the first obvious group is the most common way to lose a mistake. The puzzle rewards stepping back and looking for the group that uses up the awkward words. Patience usually beats speed in this game, so slow down when a group looks too easy.

Solving Tips That Help

• Read every word before you tap. Say each one aloud. Some links depend on sound rather than spelling.
• Count the candidates. If you see five possible members for a group, one of them belongs somewhere else. Work out which.
• Look for the odd words first. A word that fits nowhere obvious is often the key to the purple group.
• Use the shuffle button. Moving the words around breaks the patterns your eyes have locked on to.
• Think about wordplay. Check for hidden smaller words, words that can follow or precede a common word, homophones and anagrams.
• Think about other meanings. Many words have a second meaning as a verb, a brand, a name or a slang term.
• Save your mistakes. Do not guess when you are unsure. Solve the groups you are confident about first, which narrows the rest.
• Pay attention to “one away”. It tells you three of your choices were right. Swap one word, not all four.

Common Kinds of Groups

Puzzles change every day, but some kinds of links come up often:

• Members of a plain category, such as animals, colours or musical instruments.
• Words that complete the same phrase, either before or after another word.
• Words that contain a hidden smaller word of the same type.
• Words that sound like letters, numbers or other words.
• Synonyms for the same idea, often with one surprising member.
• References to films, songs, sports or famous people.

Because some links lean on American English and US culture, readers in India sometimes find the purple group harder. Spotting the idea behind it is part of the fun, and it gets easier with practice.

How Connections Differs From Wordle

Feature	Wordle	Connections
Task	Guess a five letter word	Sort 16 words into four groups
Attempts	Six guesses	Four mistakes
Feedback	Coloured letters	Locked groups and “one away”
Main skill	Letter patterns and logic	Categories, meanings and wordplay

A Worked Example With Our Own Words

Here is a small practice grid we made up, not a real NYT puzzle. Imagine these 16 words: Mango, Apple, Banana, Orange, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn, Pepper, Salt, Cumin, Turmeric, Jaguar, Puma, Tiger, Lynx.

At first glance you might see fruits, planets, spices and big cats. But look again. Apple, Mercury and Jaguar are also well known brand names, and so are Puma, Orange and Mars. That gives six possible “brands”, and only four can form a group. If you take the brands first, you break the fruit, planet and cat groups. The puzzle maker wants you to notice that Mango, Banana, Venus, Saturn, Tiger and Lynx are safe, then work out which groups can still be completed with four members each.

In a real puzzle the trick is similar. The group that seems to have extra members is usually the one to leave for last.

Why Connections Became So Popular

The game takes only a few minutes, has one puzzle a day for everyone, and gives a clear result you can share without spoilers. Unlike crosswords, it does not need special knowledge of clue styles, so new players can join in on day one. The mix of easy and tricky groups means most people finish, but few finish without a slip, which keeps players coming back.

Building a Daily Habit

Play at a fixed time, such as with morning tea. Give yourself a minute to scan the grid before tapping anything. After each puzzle, look at the purple group and ask how you could have spotted it sooner. Over a few weeks this simple review makes the wordplay groups much easier to see.

Playing Fair and Sharing Results

When you finish, the game shows a grid of coloured squares that records your guesses without giving away the words. You can share this with friends without spoiling the puzzle. Please avoid posting answers on social media on the same day, since many people play later in their own time zones.

If you enjoy word games, see our guide to the rules and symbols of Wordle, our piece on Sedecordle and other Wordle variants, and our history of chaturanga, the Indian game of strategy.

Teachers sometimes use Connections style grids in class, since sorting words by meaning builds vocabulary in a playful way.

Making your own practice grid for friends, as we did above, is a good way to understand how the puzzle makers think.

Reading widely, from news to sport to film, helps with the groups that depend on names and references.

Some players keep a short notebook of tricky links they have met before, which helps spot similar ideas in later puzzles.

Playing with a friend or family member and talking through the words often turns up links one person would miss.

If you are stuck, leave the puzzle and come back later; a fresh look often reveals a group straight away.

Daily word puzzles are a light way to practise vocabulary and pattern spotting, for students and adults alike.

Try to name the link out loud before you submit a group; if you cannot say what connects the four words, wait.

What We Changed From the Old Post

The old post described Connections as a game of linking words or people in a chain, which is not how it works, and its title was cut off. We rewrote the page with the real rules from The New York Times, the four colour levels, the four mistake limit, the “one away” hint, the game’s launch history, solving tips, common kinds of groups and a comparison with Wordle. No answers to any day’s puzzle are given.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many mistakes can I make in NYT Connections?

Four. After the fourth wrong guess the game ends and shows the answers.

What does purple mean in Connections?

Purple is the trickiest group. It often relies on wordplay rather than a plain category.

Is there only one answer?

Yes. Each puzzle has one correct solution, even if other groupings look possible.

When does a new puzzle appear?

A new puzzle is released every day, at midnight in your local time.