Hints for Today’s Puzzle Themes

Below are some spoiler-free clues regarding the groupings in today’s Connections:

• Yellow category – No longer.
• Green category – Remember to shuffle the deck prior to playing.
• Blue category – Timeless theatrical themes.
• Purple category – Residents of Neverland.

Caution: Spoilers Ahead

Answers for today’s Connections are coming up. Proceed with caution if you wish to avoid seeing them all at once. The complete solution will follow shortly.

Overview of the Challenging Aspects

While terms like BRIDGE, HOOK, CHORUS, and REFRAIN may bring songs to mind, they’re not that category today.

BRIDGE refers to a game.

HOOK is a character wary of both clocks and crocodiles.

Categories in Today’s Connections

• Yellow: DESIST
• Green: CARD GAMES
• Blue: ELEMENTS OF GREEK DRAMA
• Purple: SECOND WORDS OF “PETER PAN” CHARACTERS

Warning: Solutions Below

Ready to uncover today’s Connections answers? They are listed below.

Yellow Group Answers

The yellow category is the most straightforward, themed around DESIST, with the words: ABSTAIN, AVOID, CEASE, REFRAIN.

Green Group Answers

The green group is the second-easiest, themed around CARD GAMES, consisting of: BRIDGE, HEARTS, SPEED, SPOONS.

Blue Group Answers

The blue group ranks as the second-hardest, themed around ELEMENTS OF GREEK DRAMA, including: CHORUS, HERO, HUBRIS, TRAGEDY.

Purple Group Answers

The purple category is deemed the most challenging, themed on SECOND WORDS OF “PETER PAN” CHARACTERS, featuring: BELL, DARLING, HOOK, PAN.

Solving Today’s Connections

Several potential themes emerge: one related to theatrical devices (CHORUS, HUBRIS, HERO, TRAGEDY), another concerning song structures (REFRAIN, CHORUS, BRIDGE, HOOK), and lastly, a category centered on cessation (AVOID, CEASE, ABSTAIN, REFRAIN).

Focusing on the cessation theme initially, we’ve identified REFRAIN, AVOID, CEASE, ABSTAIN. 🟨

Next, SPEED, HEARTS, BRIDGE, and SPOONS may indeed be names of card games. 🟩

Fortunately, HERO, HUBRIS, CHORUS, and TRAGEDY forms a legitimate category after all. 🟦 Meanwhile, DARLING, PAN, HOOK, and BELL represent second names of characters in Peter Pan: Wendy DARLING, Peter PAN, Captain HOOK, and Tinker BELL. 🟪

Connections
Puzzle #674
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Playing Connections

A comprehensive guide to playing Connections is available, but here’s a concise overview of the rules:

First, locate the Connections game either on the New York Times website or through their Games app (previously the Crossword app). A game board with 16 tiles, each displaying a word or phrase, will appear. Your task is to identify a set of four tiles that share a common theme. These can be like items (e.g., RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, and SNOW are all weather types) or based on wordplay (e.g., BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH refer to different lists).

Select four words and press the Submit button. If the selection is correct, the category and color will appear (Yellow is easiest, followed by Green, Blue, and then Purple). If the guess is wrong, there will be another opportunity to try.

You win when all four groupings are correctly identified. If four incorrect guesses occur before completion, the game ends and the answers are displayed.

Tips for Winning Connections

To achieve success in Connections, it’s crucial to remember that the groupings are intentionally designed to be deceptive. Overlapping categories are to be expected. For instance, one puzzle included six breakfast items: BACON, EGG, PANCAKE, OMELET, WAFFLE, and CEREAL. However, BACON was ultimately part of a group comprising various painters with CLOSE, MUNCH, and WHISTLER, and EGG was associated with things that are commonly counted by the dozen (like JUROR, ROSE, and MONTH). Thus, don’t submit your guess until you’re confident it contains only those four terms.

If feeling stuck, try focusing on the words that seem most disconnected from the others. For instance, if WHISTLER brings to mind “Whistler’s Mother,” it may lead to a significant insight. Resolving that puzzle required checking if there was a painter named Close, as that term didn’t connect with the apparent themes either.

Reading helpful hints is another effective method when encountering obstacles—this is why daily hints are provided. Be sure to return tomorrow for the next challenge!