It’s 8:00 AM. You’re staring at a grid of sixteen words, feeling simultaneously like a genius and a complete idiot. Most people just call it the "Connections game," but the mechanical heart of the beast is the challenge of finding four groups of four. Wyna Liu, the associate puzzle editor at The New York Times, probably didn't realize she was creating a cultural phenomenon that would rival Wordle when the game launched in beta back in June 2023. Yet, here we are.
The premise is deceptively simple. You get sixteen words. You have to sort them into four sets of four based on a common thread. It sounds easy until you realize the board is intentionally littered with "red herrings." It’s basically psychological warfare disguised as a word game.
The Logic Behind Those Four Groups of Four
The game isn't just about knowing definitions. It’s about lateral thinking. Every single day, the puzzle is color-coded by difficulty. You’ve got the yellow group, which is usually the most straightforward—think "Types of Fruit" or "Synonyms for Small." Then you move into green and blue, which require a bit more abstract thought. Finally, there’s the dreaded purple group.
Purple is usually the "wordplay" category. It might involve words that follow a specific prefix, or maybe it’s a group of words that all fit a specific phonetic pattern. Honestly, some days the purple category feels like Wyna Liu is personally trolling the internet.
The beauty of the four groups of four structure is that it forces you to eliminate possibilities. If you find five words that seem to fit one category, you know you’re being tricked. One of those words must belong somewhere else. This is where the "overlap" strategy comes in. Experts—and yes, there are now professional Connections analysts—suggest that you shouldn't submit your first guess immediately. You have to look at the whole board first.
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Why Our Brains Crave This Specific Grid
There is a psychological reason why sixteen words arranged into four groups of four is so addictive. It’s called the "Gestalt principle" of grouping. Our brains naturally want to find order in chaos. When you see a jumbled mess of words like "SAUCE," "CHEEK," "KISS," and "SASS," your brain starts firing off connections.
Is it "Types of Backtalk"?
Is it "Things you do with a mouth"?
The dopamine hit you get when the grid flashes and those four words bounce into a solid colored bar is real. It’s a tiny victory in a chaotic world. Unlike Wordle, which is a game of deduction and elimination of letters, Connections is a game of semantic relationships. It tests your vocabulary, sure, but it mostly tests your ability to see patterns where they aren't obvious.
Avoiding the Red Herring Trap
The designers are clever. They know you’re going to see "Green," "Blue," "Orange," and "Yellow" and immediately try to group them as colors. That’s almost always a trap. In the world of four groups of four, if a category looks too easy, it probably is.
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Often, one word will perfectly fit into three different potential categories. Take the word "HAM," for example. It could be an actor who overacts. It could be a type of radio. It could be something you put in a sandwich. Or, it could be part of a category of "Words that follow 'Bermuda'."
You’ve got to be comfortable with ambiguity. The most successful players are the ones who can hold multiple conflicting ideas in their heads at once. It’s not just a game; it’s a lesson in cognitive flexibility.
The Rise of the "Social" Puzzle
Why does everyone post those colored squares on Twitter and Threads? Because the four groups of four format is shareable. It’s a low-stakes way to show off your intellect or, more often, commiserate over a particularly brutal puzzle.
When The New York Times moved Connections out of beta and into the official app, they saw a massive spike in engagement. It turns out people like puzzles that feel "hand-crafted." AI can generate a crossword, but it’s really bad at making a "purple" category in Connections because AI struggles with the subtle, wink-and-a-nod wordplay that humans love.
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How to Get Better at Finding the Four Groups of Four
If you're tired of seeing "Next Guess in 24 Hours" after four quick mistakes, you need a system. Stop clicking. Just stop.
- Analyze the "Floaters": Look for the weirdest words on the board first. If you see "QUARTZ," it's likely not going to have many synonyms. It's probably part of a very specific category, like "Words with a Z" or "Types of Watch Movements."
- The "Five-Word Rule": If you find five words that fit a category, leave that category alone. Focus on the other eleven words. Once you solve two other groups, the remaining words will reveal which of those five was the interloper.
- Read Out Loud: Sometimes the connection is phonetic. If you say the words out loud, you might hear a rhyme or a homophone that you didn't see when just reading.
- Think Like a Punster: The purple category is almost always a pun or a fill-in-the-blank. If you see "BASKET," "FOOT," "BASE," and "SNOW," you aren't looking for things that are similar; you're looking for things that all precede the word "BALL."
The four groups of four isn't just a grid; it's a daily mental workout. It’s a reminder that things aren't always what they seem at first glance. Sometimes a "BAT" is a piece of sports equipment, and sometimes it's just a nocturnal mammal, and sometimes it's what you do with your eyelashes.
Actionable Steps for Your Next Game
To actually improve your success rate and stop losing your streak, change your physical interaction with the game.
- Use the Shuffle Button: Seriously. Your brain gets "stuck" seeing words next to each other. Shuffling the grid breaks those false visual associations.
- Write It Down: If you're really struggling, grab a piece of paper. Physically grouping the words away from the screen helps bypass the "digital fatigue" that leads to rage-clicking.
- Check the Archives: If you're new, don't just play the daily. Go back and play the archives. You'll start to learn the "language" of the editors and recognize the types of tricks they like to play.
- Ignore the Clock: There is no timer. Taking twenty minutes to solve the four groups of four is just as valid as taking two minutes. The goal is the solve, not the speed.
Next time you open the app, remember that the board is designed to make you fail. It’s a trap. But by looking for the overlap and refusing to fall for the obvious "yellow" bait, you’ll find that the sixteen words start to make sense. It’s just a matter of seeing the world in groups.