You know that feeling. It’s 8:00 AM, you’ve got a coffee in one hand and your phone in the other, and you’re staring at sixteen words that seem to have absolutely nothing to do with each other. You find three words that fit perfectly. Then you find the fourth. You click them. One away. Your heart sinks. You mutter, "there's no way NYT actually thought this was a fair connection," and honestly, you aren’t alone.
The New York Times Games stable—headlined by the juggernaut Wordle—has found a strangely addictive villain in Connections. Launched in beta in June 2023 and moved to the main app shortly after, the game was designed by Wyna Liu. It’s a simple premise: find four groups of four words that share a common thread. But "simple" is a massive understatement. The game has become a digital lightning rod for frustration, memes, and genuine linguistic debate. Some days the categories are clever; other days, they feel like a personal attack on your intelligence.
The phrase "there's no way" has basically become the unofficial slogan for the game's player base. It’s what you scream when "Green" isn't part of a color category but is actually a reference to a specific golfer, a type of salad, and a synonym for "envious."
The Psychological Trap of the "Red Herring"
The NYT puzzle editors are geniuses at psychological warfare. They use what are called "overlapping" words to lead you down a path that ends in a strike. This isn't just accidental difficulty. It is intentional design.
Think about a puzzle that includes the words "Apple," "Orange," "Banana," and "Phone." You immediately think: fruit. But wait. "Apple" and "Phone" also belong to technology. "Orange" might be a mobile carrier in Europe. Suddenly, you're paralyzed. This is the "there's no way NYT" moment. You see the trap, but you can't see the way out of it.
Wyna Liu has often mentioned in interviews that the difficulty isn't just about the obscurity of the words. It's about the "density" of the links. A "Purple" category—traditionally the hardest—often relies on wordplay rather than definitions. These are the "Words that start with a body part" or "___ Cake" groups. These require a lateral thinking jump that the human brain isn't always ready for before breakfast.
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Why We Keep Coming Back to the Torture
Why do millions of people play a game that makes them feel slightly incompetent five days a week? It’s the "Aha!" moment.
There is a specific dopamine hit that comes from identifying a cryptic purple category without making a single mistake. It feels like you’ve outsmarted a very sophisticated computer, even though you've just outsmarted a human editor in a Brooklyn office.
The social aspect is huge too. The "grid" of colored squares has replaced the Wordle green-and-yellow boxes as the primary currency of group chats. When people post their results and you see a sea of mistakes followed by one successful line, you feel a sense of shared struggle. It’s a collective "there's no way NYT" sigh that echoes across X (formerly Twitter) and Threads every single morning.
The Language of Logic (and Luck)
There is a legitimate argument about whether the game is getting harder or if we’re just getting more impatient. In the early days of Connections, the categories felt a bit more grounded in standard definitions. Recently, the reliance on homophones and "Fill-in-the-blank" clues has skyrocketed.
- Synonyms: The "easiest" (Yellow) are usually just straight synonyms. Like "Fast," "Quick," "Rapid," "Swift."
- Categories: The "medium" (Green and Blue) usually involve things like "Types of Cheese" or "NCAA Team Mascots."
- The Cryptic: The "Hard" (Purple) is where the "there's no way NYT" sentiment lives. This is where you get categories like "Silent Letters" or "Palindromes."
The problem occurs when the editor uses a word that has a regional bias. If the category is "British Slang" and you're in the middle of Nebraska, you're going to have a bad time. The NYT tries to keep it universal, but with a global player base, someone is always going to feel left out.
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How to Actually Win Without Losing Your Mind
If you want to stop shouting "there's no way NYT" at your screen, you have to change your strategy. Most people start clicking as soon as they see a group of four. That is the fastest way to lose.
- Don't click yet. Look at the whole grid. Find every possible connection for a single word. If you see "Bacon," think of "Breakfast," "Kevin," "Francis," and "Canadian."
- Identify the outliers. Usually, there are one or two words that are so weird they have to be part of the Purple category. Work backward from there.
- Shuffle is your friend. Our brains get stuck in patterns based on where the words are physically located on the screen. The shuffle button breaks those visual links and lets you see the grid fresh.
- The "One Away" Rule. If you get a "One Away" message, don't just swap one word and try again immediately. Take a step back. Is the entire theme wrong? Sometimes you have three words from the Yellow category and one from the Blue category, and swapping one word won't help if your fundamental logic is flawed.
The reality is that Connections is a game of patience as much as it is a game of vocabulary. It rewards the person who sits and stares for five minutes more than the person who has a massive vocabulary but zero impulse control.
Is the Game Fair?
This is a hot topic. Some linguists argue that the "there's no way NYT" frustration comes from a lack of "fair play" in the clues. In a crossword, there is a standard set of rules. In Connections, the rules shift every day.
One day, a category might be "Parts of a Car." The next day, it might be "Things that start with a car brand." This "meta-logic" can feel like the game is moving the goalposts. However, that’s exactly what keeps it from getting stale. If it were easy, it wouldn't be the first thing people check when they wake up. It would be a chore. Instead, it's a challenge.
Taking Your Connections Game to the Next Level
To stop being the person who fails the grid every Tuesday, start paying attention to the "NYT Voice." The editors love certain tropes. They love theater, they love old-school New York references, and they absolutely love words that can be both a noun and a verb.
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When you see a word like "Record," don't just think of a vinyl disc. Think of the act of recording. Think of a sports record. Think of a criminal record. The more angles you can approach a word from, the less likely you are to fall for a trap.
Next time you find yourself about to scream "there's no way NYT," take a breath. Look at the words again. Is "Turkey" a bird, a country, or a bowling term? It might be all three. And that's exactly why you're still playing.
Actionable Steps to Improve Your Daily Score:
- Analyze Your Mistakes: After the game reveals the answers, don't just close the app. Look at the categories you missed. Was it a vocabulary issue or a logic issue?
- Expand Your Word Associations: Practice thinking in "groups of four" throughout the day. If you see a "Bridge," think of "Dental," "Card Game," "Golden Gate," and "Suspension."
- Use External Resources Carefully: There are daily hint columns (like the ones on Mashable or the NYT’s own Wordplay blog) that provide subtle clues without spoiling the whole thing. If you’re on your last life, use a hint. There's no shame in it.
- Wait Until You’re Fully Awake: Trying to solve a "Purple" category while half-asleep is a recipe for a "there's no way" meltdown. Give your brain twenty minutes to boot up before you tackle the grid.
Ultimately, the game isn't just about what you know—it's about how you think. And sometimes, the NYT just wins. That’s okay. There’s always tomorrow’s grid.