July 21St New York Times Puzzle Solutions & Insights #406

Quick Links

• What Is Connections?
• Hints for Today’s Connections Groups
• Today’s NYT Connections Answers
• How Did We Solve This Connections Game?
• How Do You Guess Connections Groups?

Connections is a game from the New York Times that challenges you to find the association between words. It sounds easy, but it isn’t—Connections categories can be almost anything, and they’re usually quite specific. If you need a hand getting the answers, we’ve got you covered.

What Is Connections?

Connections is a game from the New York Times. The objective is simple: sort 16 words into groups of 4. Each group of words will be connected by some common idea or theme. That common element could be anything. We have seen everything from games that rely on the number of letters in the words to categories that require you to spot an extra letter at the end of the word. Sometimes they’re references to economics, other times they reference fairy tales. There is no telling what sort of association there will be between words.

Once you’re confident you understand the connection, select 4 words, then hit “Submit.” You have only four attempts in total, so don’t be too guess-happy.

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Hints for Today’s Connections Groups

Here are a few hints for the 406th Connections game to get you started:

• Yellow: What you do when you want someone in office.
• Green: The sum total of the parts.
• Blue: Hammer, impact driver are other words.
• Purple: Sum, Int, are other examples.

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If you still need help, the actual group names are:

• Yellow: Ways to Support a Candidate.
• Green: Constitution.
• Blue: Carpentry Tools.
• Purple: Math Abbreviations.

Today’s NYT Connections Answers

Ways to Support a Candidate (Yellow):

Campaign, Canvass, Organize, Stump

Constitution (Green):

Composition, Fabric, Makeup, Structure

Carpentry Tools (Blue):

Clamp, File, Level, Saw

Math Abbreviations (Purple):

Log, Max, Mod, Tan

How Did We Solve This Connections Game?

July 21st was a bit harder than most games, but only because Purple was extremely specialized.

The first group of words I noticed was Blue, “Carpentry Tools.” Clamp, level, and saw are tools that instantly made me think of carpentry, and though I haven’t spent much time using a file myself, it is very common. Not too hard.

Next, I looked at canvass. At first, I thought that the word might go with fabric, but then I realized that it has a second s on the end. Canvass refers to the process of securing voters, rather than a material. From there, campaign, organize, and stump seemed like the only words that are related to getting someone elected. The Yellow group was “Ways to Support a Candidate.”

Returning to fabric, it was a bit more obvious that its use in this situation refers to the makeup of something rather than textile, given the remaining words. Structure and composition were easy picks to finish out Green, which was “Constitution.”

That left log, max, mod, and tan. I didn’t immediately jump to math, since mod is a word I hear more frequently in the context of “modify” rather than “modulus.” However, all the other words were very common math terms. Purple was “Math Abbreviations.”

How Do You Guess Connections Groups?

There is no quick, reliable way to approach Connections like there is with Wordle, since Connections isn’t algorithmic. However, there are a few things to keep in mind that can help.

1. Look for similar parts of speech. Are some words verbs and others nouns? Are some adjectives? Try mentally grouping them based on those categories and see if any other patterns jump out at you.
2. Are the words synonyms? Sometimes categories will just be synonyms for a phrase, or very close to synonyms. Don’t rely too closely on this, though. Occasionally, Connections will deliberately throw in words that are sometimes synonyms to mislead you.
3. Try saying the words. Sometimes, saying the words helps. One puzzle we saw included the words go, rate, faster, clip, pace, speed, move, commute, and hurry—all of which are obviously related to the idea of motion. However, when you say them, it becomes a little more obvious that only four (go, move, hurry, faster) are things you’d actually say to prompt someone to get moving.
4. Expect the red herring . Connections usually has words that could be plausibly, yet incorrectly, grouped together. Take the words Bud, Corona, and Light, as an example. You might instinctively see those three words together and assume they’re lumped together in a category related to beer—but they weren’t.
5. Look for distinct words. If a word on your board doesn’t have multiple meanings or can really only be used in one context, try using that word as the basis for a category.
6. Shuffle the board. Sometimes, moving words around will help you look at them in new ways.

If you didn’t solve this one, don’t feel too bad—there’s always tomorrow! And those words may align with a topic you’re interested in, giving you a leg up on the competition.