Honestly, if you haven’t felt personally victimized by a digital grid of 16 words at 7:00 AM, are you even living in 2026? We’ve all been there. You open your phone, coffee still brewing, and prepare to breeze through the New York Times games. Then, it happens. You see a grouping that looks so obvious it’s basically screaming at you. You click. One mistake. You click again. Two mistakes. Suddenly, you realize the editor just pulls a fast one on NYT players everywhere, and your perfect streak is toast.
It’s not just you.
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The phrase "pulls a fast one" has become the unofficial slogan for the frustration bubbling up in the NYT Games community. Whether it's a devious Connections category or a Wordle that feels more like a trap than a puzzle, the "Gray Lady" has definitely traded its dignified reputation for a bit of high-level trolling lately.
Why Everyone Says the NYT Pulls a Fast One
The NYT didn't always have this reputation for being a trickster. For decades, the crossword was the gold standard—tough, sure, but generally fair. But then came the digital explosion. When the Times bought Wordle and launched Connections, the vibe shifted.
The games became about "The Trap."
Take a look at the infamous "SpongeBob" incident. In early 2024, the Connections grid featured the words SPONGE, BOB, SQUARE, and PANTS. Every millennial and Gen Z player on the planet immediately clicked them. Why wouldn’t they? It’s a cultural cornerstone.
But it was a red herring.
The actual categories were things like "Boxing Maneuvers" (Bob, Hook, Cross, Weave) and "Sea Creatures" (Sponge, Ray, Squid, Crab). The editor, Wyna Liu, essentially pulled a fast one on the entire internet. It was a calculated move to exploit our pattern-recognition brains. People weren't just annoyed; they were impressed by the audacity. It’s that specific brand of "clever-meets-cruel" that keeps us coming back.
The Anatomy of a Digital Prank
So, how exactly does a puzzle editor pull a fast one on NYT fans? It usually follows a predictable, yet infuriating, pattern:
- The False Positive: Placing four words that clearly belong together (like the SpongeBob example) but are meant to be split across three different categories.
- The Niche Slang: Using words that have a very specific meaning in New York City or within the Ivy League bubble, leaving the rest of the world scratching their heads.
- The Phonetic Trap: Words that look like they rhyme or follow a spelling pattern but are pronounced entirely differently.
It’s basically psychological warfare.
The Wordle "Hard Mode" Drama
Wordle isn't safe from the "fast one" accusations either. Remember when everyone was convinced the NYT made the words harder the second they bought the game from Josh Wardle? While the Times officially denied changing the dictionary, the frequency of "trap" words—think COVE, CAGE, CAKE, CARE—seemed to skyrocket.
When you have one guess left and four possible letters for that middle slot, you realize the game has successfully cornered you. That’s the "fast one." It’s the moment the puzzle stops being a test of vocabulary and starts being a game of Russian Roulette.
Is It Elitism or Just Good Design?
There’s a growing debate about whether these tricks are "fair." Raph Koster, a legendary game designer, once noted that Connections can feel elitist because it often requires a very specific, broad-spectrum education to even see the categories. If you don't know that "Fricassee" and "Bassoon" both have double vowels, you're not just failing a word game; you're failing a trivia night you didn't sign up for.
On the other hand, some fans live for the trickery. They argue that if the games were easy, we wouldn’t share our results on social media. We wouldn't talk about them at the dinner table. The "fast one" is what creates the "water cooler" moment. It’s the shared trauma of a collective failure that keeps the NYT Games app at the top of the charts.
What to Do When the NYT Tricks You
You can't really "beat" a red herring, but you can train your brain to spot them. Here is how the pros handle it:
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1. Never commit on the first pass. If you see a group of four that looks "too easy," it probably is. The yellow category (the easiest) is rarely that obvious. If you see something like APPLE, BANANA, ORANGE, CHERRY, look for a fifth fruit. If there’s a PIT or a PHONE in the mix, the fruit category is probably a trap.
2. Work backward from the purple.
The purple category is the most abstract. It’s often "Words that start with [X]" or "Types of [X] that don't sound like [X]." If you can figure out the "invisible" connection first, the rest of the board usually collapses into place.
3. Use the "One Away" hint strategically.
If you get the "One Away" message, don't just swap one word and hope for the best. Stop. Look at the remaining 12 words. Is there another word that fits your current theme? If not, the entire group you just guessed might be a decoy.
The Future of the Fast One
As we move through 2026, the complexity of these puzzles is only increasing. The editorial team knows we’re onto their tricks, so they’re evolving. We’re seeing more categories based on emojis, homophones, and even meta-references to previous puzzles.
Basically, they're not going to stop pulling fast ones anytime soon.
The NYT has realized that being the "villain" in our morning routine is a great business model. It drives engagement, fuels Twitter (or X, or whatever we’re calling it this week) threads, and makes that "Perfect Game" screen feel like a genuine accomplishment.
If you’re tired of being tricked, the best thing you can do is broaden your horizons. Read weird Wikipedia articles. Learn the names of 18th-century fabrics. Memorize the parts of a sailboat. Because the next time a "fast one" appears on your screen, you’ll want to be the one who sees it coming.
To keep your edge, try playing a few "unlimited" versions of these games online to practice spotting red herrings without the pressure of a daily streak. You might also want to follow some of the top "puzzlers" on social media who deconstruct the logic behind the traps every morning.
Stay sharp, because tomorrow's grid is already waiting to trip you up.