Misdirection is a constant threat in Connections, which is one of the reasons why I always shuffle the answers as soon as I fire up the game; the NYT tends to put words next to each other at the start to make it look like they go together, when they don't.
Today, I guessed MATE, BUD, PAL, PARTNER as a group and was pretty shocked when they didn't form one answer. But as it happens, MATE and PARTNER were instead part of the 'Other half' group (with COMPLEMENT and MATCH), while BUD went in 'Beers' and PAL in the final 'Words after "Pay"' group.
Still, you get to make three mistakes in Connections (the fourth triggers a loss), so I had enough guesses left to solve this relatively tricky instalment of the game. I don't think I'd have got the blue group if not by default – I've never heard of NATTY or SIERRA as beers – but the purple one wasn't as bad as it sometimes is, so I got there in the end.
Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Wednesday, 14 August, game #430)
YELLOW: BLUNDER BOO-BOO, FLUB, GAFFE, GOOF
GREEN: FLOWERS DAISY, JASMINE, PETUNIA, POPPY
BLUE: THINGS BEES DO BUZZ, DANCE, POLLINATE, STING
PURPLE: FIRST NAMES OF YANKEES LEGENDS BABE, LOU, MICKEY, YOGI
What is NYT Connections?
NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.
On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.
It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.
It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
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