Happy Fourth of July! As America celebrates 248 years of independence, it does so one month after Connections‘ own one-year anniversary.
The brainteaser was launched The New York Times in June of last year and has quickly gone on to become the newspaper’s second-most-played game behind Wordle, another word-based puzzle.
If you’ve never played before, Connections challenges players to uncover threads connecting a series of words. Instructions on how to play the game are below. Clues and the answers for today’s puzzle are toward the end of the article.
How to Play Connections
Connections tasks players with grouping 16 words into four categories based on association. For example, Wednesday’s game linked the words “Concrete,” “Material,” “Real,” and “Solid” under the category “Tangible.”
Each of the four categories is labeled with a color, which also signifies their difficulty level. Yellow is the easiest category, followed by green, blue and purple. However, the puzzles are rarely straightforward, using homophones and wordplay, among other techniques, to keep players challenged.
Explaining why the game has four difficulty levels, the Times‘ puzzle editor Wyna Liu said she toyed with different ways to make Connections more of a challenge.
A woman is pictured using her smartphone. Newsweek has provided hints, tips, and answers for today’s “Connections” puzzle. A woman is pictured using her smartphone. Newsweek has provided hints, tips, and answers for today’s “Connections” puzzle. iStock/Getty Images Plus
“There would have to be a mix of categories for the game to feel challenging and satisfying,” she said in the Times. “Some categories might be defined by their use of wordplay—palindromes, homophones, adding or dropping letters and words—rather than the literal meanings of the words on the cards.”
However, the familiarity of the words used, and how often they pop up in modern life, are also difficulty factors, although less-common words aren’t only used in the harder categories. “Item overlap,” where one word can be linked to multiple categories, is another way Connections tests players.
“Caution was needed when including items that might stand out in the grid, since they would invite immediate scrutiny,” Liu explained.
The answers for today’s Connections puzzle will be revealed at the end of this article, so scroll with caution if you want to work them out yourself.
Connections #388 Clues for Thursday, July 4
Newsweek has some hints to help you figure out today’s Connections categories.
Yellow: These words are associated with amorous feelings.
Green: Each of these answers is linked to internet use.
Blue: For these answers, think of going full circle.
Purple: These words precede the name of something that tolls.
