Hints for Today’s Connections Themes

Here are some spoiler-free clues regarding the groupings for today’s Connections:

• Yellow category – Foods related to sandwiches.

• Green category – Essentials for brewing a morning caffeine fix.

• Blue category – Terms associated with spending money using a directional word.

• Purple category – They correspond with a certain punctuation mark, forming the titles of a movie, a series, a singer, and a brand.

Alert: Spoilers Follow!

The solutions are about to be unveiled. Proceed with caution if you wish to avoid certain information. (The complete resolution is located further down.)

Notable Difficulties

GRINDER is not paired with HERO or MELT; instead, it indicates a tool that reduces something into a powdery consistency.

JEOPARDY denotes a television quiz show, though it lacks some punctuation.

PONY is associated with a directional word, along with the additional terms in its category.

Today’s Connections Categories

• Yellow: LUNCH ORDERS

• Green: USED TO MAKE COFFEE

• Blue: PAY, WITH “UP”

• Purple: NAMES FEATURING “!”

Caution: The Solution is Below

Ready to discover today’s Connections answers? They are detailed below.

Yellow category words

The yellow group is viewed as straightforward, revolving around the theme of LUNCH ORDERS, comprising: CLUB, HERO, MELT, WRAP.

Green category words

The green category is considered the second-easiest. Today’s theme involves items USED TO MAKE COFFEE, which includes: BEANS, FILTER, GRINDER, WATER.

Blue category words

The blue group is the second most challenging. Its theme, PAY, WITH “UP,” features: ANTE, COUGH, PONY, SETTLE.

Purple category words

The purple category is deemed the most difficult, centered around NAMES FEATURING “!”, which includes: AIRPLANE, JEOPARDY, PINK, YAHOO.

Guidelines for Solving Today’s Connections

There’s a fun reference to Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club” in the first row.

CLUB aligns with HERO, GRINDER, and WRAP, all types of sandwiches. It seems that MELT is fitting in there very well.

Moreover, YAHOO may point to the corporation or a term for someone unrefined or silly.

The terms WATER, SETTLE, FILTER, and MELT could also suggest they all pair with “down.” However, today’s puzzle seems particularly complex.

A-ha! It looks like there’s a group indicated by “up.” WRAP, SETTLE, ANTE, and COUGH belong together. But once again, I missed a few.

Finally, if GRINDER is excluded, WRAP, CLUB, HERO, and MELT become the sandwich category.

Ultimately, YAHOO, JEOPARDY, PINK, and AIRPLANE remain. Oh! Their connection is names that include an exclamation mark: Yahoo! (the company), Jeopardy! (the show), the artist P!nk, and the classic film Airplane!.

Connections
Puzzle #568
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🟩🟦🟩🟨
🟦🟨🟦🟦
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟪🟪🟪🟪

Playing Connections: A Quick Overview

For a comprehensive Connections guide, consider the following as a quick reminder of the fundamentals:

Start by visiting the Connections game on the New York Times website or through their Games app. A board displaying 16 tiles, each adorned with a word or phrase, will appear. Your task is to identify and select a quartet of tiles that share a common trait. Often, these are similar types of items (such as RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, and SNOW being weather types), but at times wordplay may be involved (for instance, BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH are categories of lists: bucket list, guest list, etc.).

Select four items and press the Submit button. If correct, the category and color will be unveiled (yellow being the simplest, followed by green, blue, and purple). If the guess turns out wrong, an opportunity to try again will be provided.

Victory is achieved by correctly identifying all four groupings. However, if four incorrect guesses are made prior to reaching a solution, the game concludes, and the answers are disclosed.

Tips for Winning Connections

To succeed at Connections, the key takeaway is that the categories are designed to be deceptive. Expect overlaps in groupings. For instance, one puzzle included six breakfast items: BACON, EGG, PANCAKE, OMELET, WAFFLE, and CEREAL, but BACON was part of a group with artists like CLOSE, MUNCH, and WHISTLER. Meanwhile, EGG was involved in a grouping of items that come by the dozen (like JUROR, ROSE, and MONTH). Therefore, do not hit “submit” until ensuring your selected four consists of those only.

If feeling stuck, another useful strategy is to examine the words that appear to have no relation to the others. Should WHISTLER only evoke “Whistler’s Mother” in your thoughts, you may be onto something significant. When solving that puzzle, it led to the realization that there indeed exists a painter known as Close, which didn’t fit in any apparent categories.

Additionally, when in doubt, reading a few helpful hints can significantly aid in your success—that’s precisely why these tips are shared each day. Be sure to check back for the next puzzle!