If you’ve spent any time staring at a 4x4 grid of words until your eyes crossed, you know the specific brand of torture the New York Times Connections puzzle inflicts. It happened again on May 15, 2025. Thousands of people woke up, saw the words Butterfly, Bess, Seville, and Madrid, and immediately assumed they were planning a trip to Spain or perhaps a strange historical tour.
They were wrong.
The "Butterfly Bess Seville Madrid" trap is a classic example of what Wyna Liu and the NYT puzzle team call "red herrings." It’s designed to exploit your brain's natural tendency to group geographically. You see Madrid. You see Seville. You think, "Aha! Spanish cities!" Then you look for a third and fourth. Maybe you convince yourself "Bess" is a typo for a town you’ve never heard of, or "Butterfly" is some niche nickname for a district in Andalusia.
Actually, the "butterfly bess seville madrid" connection doesn't exist as a single category. The words belong to two completely different groups that are lightyears apart in logic.
The Opera Connection: Butterfly, Bess, and Seville
The first half of this mystery lives in the "Blue" category, which is usually the second-hardest tier in the game. On that Thursday, the theme was "Last Words of Famous Opera Titles."
If you aren't a fan of the dramatic arts, this was a brutal draw.
- Butterfly refers to Madama Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini.
- Bess comes from George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.
- Seville is the kicker, pulling from Gioachino Rossini's The Barber of Seville.
The fourth word in that specific set was Flute (The Magic Flute by Mozart).
The cleverness of the puzzle lies in putting "Seville" and "Madrid" in the same grid. Most players will click them together instantly. But in the world of Connections, if it looks too obvious, it’s a trap. Seville was looking for its operatic friends, while Madrid was waiting for something much more "real."
The "Real" Problem with Madrid
While Seville was busy singing arias, Madrid was tucked away in the "Purple" category. Purple is notoriously the hardest group, often relying on wordplay, prefixes, or "blank" associations.
The theme was "Real ___."
- Real Madrid (the legendary football club).
- Real Deal.
- Real Estate.
- Real World.
It’s a linguistic sleight of hand. By the time you’ve categorized Madrid as a "Spanish City," you’ve already lost. To solve the butterfly bess seville madrid puzzle, you have to mentally decouple the geography. Madrid isn't a city here; it’s a suffix.
Why Our Brains Fail This Specific Puzzle
Psychologically, this is known as "functional fixedness." You see a word and assign it a single, rigid meaning. Madrid = Spain. Seville = Spain. This is exactly what the designers want. Honestly, it’s kind of brilliant. You’re being tested on your ability to look at a word and see it as a phonetic object or a piece of a larger phrase rather than its literal definition.
I’ve seen people on Reddit and Twitter (well, X) lose their minds over this specific May 15th board. Someone wrote, "I spent ten minutes trying to figure out if there was a Queen Bess of Seville." There wasn't. There isn't.
Breaking Down the Categories
To make it crystal clear, here is how those specific words actually landed when the dust settled:
The Opera Group (Blue)
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- Butterfly (Madama Butterfly)
- Bess (Porgy and Bess)
- Seville (The Barber of Seville)
- Flute (The Magic Flute)
The "Real" Group (Purple)
- Madrid (Real Madrid)
- Deal (Real Deal)
- Estate (Real Estate)
- World (Real World)
How to Beat These Traps in the Future
If you're still stinging from the butterfly bess seville madrid mix-up, you've gotta change your strategy.
First, never submit your first "obvious" group immediately. If you see two Spanish cities, look for a third and fourth. If you only see two, walk away. They are likely lures for two different categories.
Second, try saying the words out loud with common prefixes. If you had said "Real Madrid" and "The Barber of Seville" out loud, the wall between them might have crumbled sooner.
Lastly, remember that the NYT loves opera and Broadway. If you see a name like "Bess" or "Butterfly," don't assume they're people or insects. Assume they are part of a title.
Actionable Tips for Connections Success
- Shuffle Constantly: The grid is laid out to trick you. Hit the shuffle button to break the visual association between Madrid and Seville.
- Look for the Odd Man Out: If you find three words that fit a category but the fourth is "kinda" right, it’s probably wrong. The NYT is precise. "Butterfly" and "Bess" are very specific opera titles; they aren't just "vague stage things."
- Work Backward: If you can identify the "Real ___" category first, it clears the board of Madrid, making the Opera category much easier to see.
- Use a Thesaurus (Mentally): Think about every possible meaning of a word. "Butterfly" can be an insect, a swimming stroke, a social person, or an opera. "Madrid" can be a city or a sports team.
The butterfly bess seville madrid puzzle wasn't about Spain at all—it was about how well you can pivot when your first instinct fails you. Next time you see a city name, ask yourself if it's there to tell you where it is, or what it's famous for.