You’re staring at a grid of sixteen words. Your coffee is getting cold. You've already found three groups, and now you’re left with Buffalo, Phoenix, Helena, and some other outlier like Irving or Billings. At first glance, it feels like a trick. Are they animals? Mythology? Is Helena a person? No, it’s much simpler than that, and honestly, that’s exactly why the buffalo phoenix helena connections sequence is such a nightmare for casual gamers and word nerds alike.
If you’ve landed here, you’re probably either stuck on a specific New York Times Connections puzzle or you’re trying to figure out the logic behind how these three seemingly random cities—and their cousins—get lumped together.
The NYT Puzzle Logic You Need to Know
In the world of the NYT Connections game, Buffalo, Phoenix, and Helena are almost always grouped under the category of U.S. Cities. Specifically, they often show up together because they double as other things. This is the classic "Red Herring" strategy used by the puzzle editors.
Think about it:
- Buffalo is a city, but it’s also a massive, furry mammal.
- Phoenix is the capital of Arizona, but it’s also a mythical bird that likes to catch fire.
- Helena is the capital of Montana, but it’s a very common first name.
When you see them in a grid, your brain naturally tries to pair "Buffalo" with "Cow" or "Bison." You want to put "Phoenix" with "Dragon" or "Griffin." The game wins when you fall for those thematic traps instead of seeing the geographic link. In puzzle #635, which aired in March 2025, the fourth city in this "U.S. Cities" group was Irving. If you aren't from Texas, you might not have known Irving was a city at all, making that blue (medium-hard) category a total run-killer.
Why Helena is the Weakest Link for Most Players
Most people know Buffalo and Phoenix. They’re big. They have NFL teams or massive airports. But Helena? Helena is the curveball.
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Helena is the capital of Montana, but it’s small. Like, "less than 35,000 people" small. If you aren't a geography buff, you might assume it’s just a name—part of a category like "Famous First Names" or "Queens of Greece."
The NYT editors love using state capitals that don't feel like major metros. It creates a linguistic blind spot. When you see Buffalo Phoenix Helena connections pop up, the common thread is almost always Geography disguised as something else.
Geography or Mythology? Breaking Down the Red Herrings
Let’s talk about why these specific cities get picked. The game isn't just about finding four things that match; it’s about finding four things that only match each other in one specific way while pretending to match other things.
Basically, the "Buffalo Phoenix Helena" connection works because:
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- Multiple Meanings: As mentioned, they are all polysemous. They have at least two distinct definitions.
- Varying Popularity: Phoenix is a top-10 most populous city in the U.S. Helena isn't even in the top 500. Mixing them together forces you to think about the nature of the words rather than their size.
- Regional Spread: New York, Arizona, and Montana. They cover the map. There’s no regional bias to help you out.
Sometimes, the game will throw in a word like Mobile (Alabama) or Billings (Montana) to round out the set. If you see "Mobile," you're going to think about phones or "sculptures." If you see "Billings," you're thinking about invoices. It's a clever, slightly annoying psychological trick.
Real-World Travel Connections (For the Non-Gamers)
While most people searching for this are looking for puzzle help, there is a literal side to these connections. If you were actually trying to travel between these spots, you’d find that they are surprisingly disconnected in the physical world.
- Flights: There are zero direct flights from Buffalo (BUF) to Helena (HLN). You’re looking at a minimum of two stops, likely in Chicago and Denver.
- The Phoenix Hub: Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX) acts as the bridge. Southwest Airlines often runs routes that can connect you from Buffalo to Phoenix, and from there, you might find a hopper up toward the Mountain West, though Helena usually requires a Delta connection through Salt Lake City or United through Denver.
- Shipping: In the logistics world, these three points form a giant, inefficient triangle across the United States. Goods moving from the industrial East (Buffalo) to the desert Southwest (Phoenix) rarely intersect with the northern plains of Helena.
How to Solve These Types of Connections Faster
Next time you see a city name in a word grid, don't just click it. Look for the "hidden" city.
- Check for the "Proper Noun" Trap: If you see a word that can be a name (like Helena or Irving), check if there are other cities on the board.
- Look for Animals: If you see Buffalo, search for Phoenix. If both are there, you are likely looking at a "Cities" category, not an "Animals" category.
- The Capital Rule: If one city is a state capital (Phoenix, Helena), check if the others are too. (Note: Buffalo is not a capital, but it’s a major city, which is often enough for a "U.S. Cities" group).
- Say it Out Loud: Sometimes hearing the word helps you break the visual association with its other meaning.
Insights for the Win
The "Buffalo Phoenix Helena" connection is a classic example of how our brains prioritize common nouns over proper nouns. We see an animal before we see a city in New York. We see a mythical bird before we see a desert metropolis.
To beat the game—and to understand these linguistic links—you have to strip away the imagery and look at the words as mere labels for locations. It’s about geographic literacy.
Your next step for mastering these puzzles:
Go through a list of U.S. State Capitals and identify which ones have double meanings. Think Little Rock, Boise (sounds like boys), Pierre (sounds like pier), and Jackson. Memorizing these "double-threat" cities will make you nearly invincible in the NYT Connections game.