You wake up. You grab your coffee. You open the app. Then, you stare at sixteen words that seem to have absolutely nothing in common—until you realize they actually have too much in common.
Welcome to the four groups of four game NYT, officially known as Connections. Since its beta launch in June 2023, it has exploded into a daily ritual that rivals Wordle in pure, unadulterated frustration and joy. Wyna Liu, the associate puzzle editor at The New York Times, is the mastermind behind these grids. She isn't just picking words; she’s setting traps.
Why We Are Obsessed With This Grid
The premise is deceptively simple. You have 16 words. You need to organize them into four distinct sets. Each set must share a common thread.
Sounds easy? It’s not.
The game is designed to play with your "semantic memory." That’s just a fancy way of saying your brain likes to group things based on your life experiences. If you see the word "Sponge," your brain immediately shouts "Bob!" or "Cake." But in the world of Connections, "Sponge" might actually belong in a group of "Things that absorb water" or "Ways to get money from a friend."
Decoding the Color Hierarchy
Every time you solve a group, it flashes a specific color. These colors aren't random; they represent the difficulty level assigned by the editors.
- Yellow: Usually the most straightforward. These are often direct synonyms or very common categories like "Types of Fruit."
- Green: A bit more abstract. You might need to recognize a slightly more specific link, like "Verbs for moving fast."
- Blue: Now it gets weird. Blue often involves specific trivia, slang, or groups that require a bit more "outside the box" thinking.
- Purple: The "Tricky" one. This is almost always about the structure of the words rather than their meaning. Think "Words that start with a Greek letter" or "Fill-in-the-blank" phrases like "____ Tape."
The Infamous Red Herrings
Honestly, the hardest part of the four groups of four game NYT isn't finding a connection. It’s finding the wrong one.
The editors love "overlapping" words. For example, you might see "Apple," "Microsoft," "Amazon," and "Google." You think, "Aha! Tech companies!" You click them. You're wrong. Why? Because "Apple" was actually supposed to go with "Peach," "Cherry," and "Plum" in a "Types of Pie" category.
They also use words that can be different parts of speech. A word like "Produce" can be a verb (to make something) or a noun (vegetables). If you aren't flexible, you'll burn through your four lives before you even finish the second row.
Real Examples from the Archives
To understand the madness, look at some past puzzles.
In one game, the words were Expose, Rose, Pate, and Resume. At first glance, they look totally unrelated. But if you look at the spelling, they are all words that change meaning and pronunciation when you add an accent mark (Exposé, Rosé, Pâté, Résumé).
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Another classic trick? The "Sponge, Bob, Square, Pants" fake-out. They put all four words in the grid, but they were all in different categories. If you fell for the SpongeBob link, you lost a life immediately. It’s brutal.
Strategic Moves to Save Your Game
Stop clicking immediately. Seriously.
The best players treat the grid like a crime scene. Don't submit your first "obvious" find. Instead, look at the remaining 12 words. If you find a category, but you see a 5th or 6th word that could also fit, do not submit it yet. That is a red herring trap.
Use the "Shuffle" button. It sounds silly, but your brain gets "locked" into seeing words that are next to each other as a pair. Shuffling breaks those visual associations and lets you see the grid with fresh eyes.
Another pro tip: say the words out loud. Sometimes hearing the word helps you catch a pun or a common phrase that your eyes missed. "Fine" and "Line" look different, but when you say them, you might realize they both fit the "____ Print" category.
What You Should Do Next
If you're tired of seeing "One Away" and then losing your last life, change your approach.
- Find two full groups before clicking. This ensures you aren't accidentally stealing a word from a more difficult category.
- Focus on the weirdest word. If there's a word you've never heard of or that seems impossible to group, it's likely part of the Purple category. Look for structural similarities (like if it's a palindrome or an anagram) rather than what it means.
- Check for "Blank" phrases. If you're stuck, try putting a word before or after the terms on the board. If "Fire" is there, does "Fire truck," "Fire drill," or "Fire alarm" work with anything else?
By slowing down and expecting a trap, you'll start clearing the board consistently. Remember, the game isn't just testing your vocabulary—it's testing your ability to ignore the obvious.