Look, we've all been there. You open the New York Times Games app, feeling pretty good about your morning streak, and then you see the grid for April 29. Suddenly, "Batter" and "Plate" are staring you in the face, and you’re convinced it’s a baseball category. But is it? Honestly, the NYT Connections hints for April 29 are more about what you don't see than what you do. This particular puzzle, curated by Wyna Liu, is a masterclass in the "red herring"—that annoying little trick where words seem to belong together but actually live in completely different universes.
If you’re currently down to your last two mistakes, take a breath. Don’t click "Submit" just yet. Let’s talk through the logic behind these groups because, frankly, once you see the connection, you’re going to wonder how you missed it.
The Mental Trap of the April 29 Grid
The biggest hurdle today is the overlap between the kitchen and the diamond. No, not the gemstone—the baseball diamond. You see "Pitcher," "Plate," "Infield," and "Batter." It looks like a lock, right? Wrong. In the world of Connections, a perfect four-word set that looks too obvious in the first ten seconds is usually a trap.
Think about it. If you use "Plate" and "Pitcher" for baseball, where do "Candlestick" and "Placemat" go? They’re just floating there. You’ve gotta pivot.
Yellow: Cooking Concoctions
The yellow category is usually the most straightforward, but even here, they’re testing your vocabulary. We aren't just talking about finished meals; we’re talking about the stuff you make before the heat hits the pan.
- Batter
- Dough
- Mixture
- Paste
Basically, these are all semi-liquid or malleable substances you’d find in a mixing bowl. If you were thinking "Batter" belonged with "Infield," this is where your strategy needs to shift.
Green: Seen on a Table at a Dinner Party
Once you move "Batter" to the yellow group, the "Plate" and "Pitcher" situation starts to make more sense. They aren't sports terms today; they're just things you’d find at a fancy (or even a basic) dinner.
- Candlestick
- Pitcher
- Placemat
- Plate
It’s a very domestic, "lifestyle" kind of category. Not too tricky once you clear the baseball clutter out of your brain.
Why the Blue Category Is Tricky
Now we’re getting into the "medium-hard" territory. The blue category for April 29 focuses on a shared action. Specifically, things that require you to go vertical.
Blue: Things to Climb
You’ve got a mix of natural and man-made objects here. The difficulty comes from the fact that "Rope" could arguably fit in a "Western" theme if the puzzle was feeling spicy, but in this context, it’s all about the ascent.
- Ladder
- Mountain
- Rope
- Tree
If you're stuck, try to visualize yourself actually using the word. You climb a ladder, you climb a mountain. It’s a physical verb connection.
The Infamous Purple Group
Ah, the purple category. The bane of many a morning coffee. Today’s theme is "What ‘Diamond’ Can Refer To." This is classic Connections wordplay. It takes one word—Diamond—and looks at its various definitions across different industries and contexts.
- Gemstone (The literal jewelry)
- Infield (The baseball connection we talked about earlier!)
- Rhombus (The geometric shape)
- Suit (Like in a deck of cards)
It’s actually quite brilliant. They took the "Infield" and "Suit" (which people often pair with "Boutique" or "Clothing") and hid them under the umbrella of a single word.
Strategies for Tomorrow
If you struggled with the NYT Connections hints for April 29, don't sweat it. Most people do. The trick to getting better is to never submit your first guess immediately. Spend two minutes looking for a fifth word that could fit the category. If you find five words that fit "Baseball," you know for a fact that "Baseball" is not a category, or at least not in the way you think it is.
📖 Related: Why the Grey and Purple Nintendo GameCube Look Still Matters
Another tip? Read the words out loud. Sometimes your ears catch a linguistic pun that your eyes totally skip over.
Actionable Next Steps
- Shuffle the board. Seriously. The default layout is designed to place red herrings next to each other.
- Identify the "Uniques." Find a word like "Rhombus" that has almost no other meaning and try to build a category around it.
- Save the Purple for last. If you can solve Yellow, Green, and Blue, the Purple words will automatically group themselves. You don't even need to know the connection to get the win.
Keep your streak alive by looking for those sneaky double-meanings. Tomorrow’s puzzle will likely be just as devious, so stay sharp.