Another day brings another Connections puzzle, and Newsweek is here with a plethora of tips should you need assistance crossing the finish line.
The New York Times' latest game was launched in June 2023, and has already gone on to become the news outlet's second-most played game after Wordle.
While Wordle requires players to find one word a day, Connections presents the challenge of uncovering common threads between a series of words. Players must also group these words into categories.
If you're not yet familiar with the game, Newsweek has provided some instructions below to get you started.
How To Play 'Connections'
Each puzzle consists of 16 words, with each group of words separated into four categories.
If all four words are correctly placed into each set, those words will be removed from the board. Each incorrect guess counts toward the mistake tally. Players can make up to four mistakes before the game ends.
Should it make the process of guessing the connections easier, players can shuffle and rearrange the board.
The board also has a color-coding system representing levels of difficulty. Yellow represents the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. A group's color will only be revealed once the words in a group have been correctly connected.
To make the task all the more challenging, a word can sometimes belong to more than one category—but there is only one correct answer.
Connections editor Wyna Liu has advised that if you notice that there are five or more words that belong to one category, try pivoting to a different category before making your first guess.
"Doing so might take one of those extra cards out of contention, or at least remove a few cards from the board, making other categories easier to see," Liu said.
The answers for today's Connections puzzle will be revealed at the end of this article, so please scroll down with caution if you want to work them out yourself.
'Connections' #331 Clues for Tuesday, May 7
Newsweek has some hints to help you figure out today's Connections categories.
Yellow: These words go together with meats and cheeses.
Green: For these words, think of a facial feature.
Blue: These words represent how you might react to a catchy song.
Purple: Each of these answers shares the same first two words.
'Connections' #331 Answers for Tuesday, May 7
Yellow Category: DELI BREAD OPTION
Yellow Words: Bun, Hero, Roll, Wrap
Green Category: SLANG FOR MOUTH
Green Words: Chops, Kisser, Trap, Yap
Blue Category: KEEP RHYTHMN WITH MUSIC
Blue Words: Bob, Clap, Snap, Tap
Purple Category: ROUND OF ______
Purple Words: Applause, Drinks, Funding, Golf
Did you guess the answers correctly? If so, congratulations. If not, there will be another opportunity to crack the puzzle tomorrow.
Connections is released at midnight in your local time zone. Newsweek will be back with another round of hints and tips for each new game.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Ryan Smith is a Newsweek Senior Pop Culture and Entertainment Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on ... Read more
