It can be difficult to maintain a Connections win streak, so if you need some help, Newsweek has some tips and tricks.
The brainteaser was launched by The New York Times in June 2023 and has gone on to become the newspaper’s second-most played game behind Wordle, another linguistics-based puzzle.
Instructions on how to play Connections are below. Clues and the answers for today’s puzzle are toward the end of the article, so scroll down with caution if you want to solve it yourself.
How to Play ‘Connections’
Connections challenges players to categorize 16 words into four groups based on their associations.
Each group is color-coded to reflect its difficulty: yellow for the easiest, followed by green, blue and purple. The puzzles are rarely straightforward, often featuring homophones, wordplay and other techniques to keep players challenged. If players get stuck, they can use the shuffle button to rearrange the words on the screen.
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Wyna Liu, a crossword editor at the Times who developed Connections, previously shared with Newsweek her tips for playing the game.
“My best piece of advice is to wait as long as you can before guessing,” Liu said.
“You may see the board and have completely identified the category, seeing five words that could belong in that category,” she continued. “Don’t try to guess the four words in that category because even though you know what the fifth member is, you won’t know which of the four it might not be.” This would ultimately waste a turn.
“Don’t do what I do, which is ‘rage solve,'” Liu said.
‘Connections’ #502 Clues for Friday, October 25
Newsweek has several hints to help you with Friday’s puzzle.
Yellow: Something you put at the end of a sentence.
Green: An occasion where you might wear fancy attire.
Blue: You might use these when texting.
Purple: While these answers might not seem alike, they have the word for a cooking utensil in common.
‘Connections’ #502 Answers for Friday, October 25
Yellow Category: .
Yellow Words: Dot, Period, Point, Title
Green Category: EVENT WITH DANCING
Green Words: Ball, Formal, Hop, Rave
Blue Category: IPHONE MESSAGE TAPBACK RESPONSES
Blue Words: Exclamation Points, Heart, Question Mark, Thumbs Up
Purple Category: “PAN”
Purple Words: Bad Review, Camera Movement, Cookware, Satyr
Great job if you answered correctly, but don’t be too hard on yourself if you didn’t. You’ll get another chance on tomorrow when a new puzzle will be available for you to try.
Connections is released at midnight in your local time zone, so be sure to check back with Newsweek for more clues.
Looking for another challenge in the meantime? Try giving one of these other popular word games a go, like Wordscapes and Words With Friends.
