Get the level of help you need. Start with gentle nudges and reveal stronger hints as needed. Learn to solve puzzles, don't just get answers.
Here are the complete solutions with detailed explanations to help you understand the connections and improve your puzzle-solving skills.
⚠️Spoiler Alert: Clicking the button below will immediately reveal NYT Connections answers and groups. Only proceed if you've finished solving with the hints above.
A common mistake is to see 'CAN' and think of a metal container, or 'MAY' and think of the month. People might also confuse 'COULD' and 'MIGHT' with other words that sound similar but have different meanings. The key is to recognize them as a group of verbs that all share the same grammatical function and meaning of possibility.
To solve this group, focus on the grammatical role of the words. Try putting each word into a simple sentence before another verb, like 'I ___ do it.' If the sentence makes sense and expresses possibility, it's a good sign. Since these words are very common, it's easy to overlook their shared function, so look past their everyday meanings and think about how they are used in grammar.
The main pitfall is that these words can also be seen as other things. **SUE** is a verb meaning to take legal action, and **DEB** might be seen as a shortened form of 'debutante.' **JAN** and **KAT** might seem like random three-letter words. The trick is to ignore the other meanings and focus on the possibility that they are all names.
The best strategy is to test if each word is a common nickname. If you can think of a longer, well-known female name that each word could be a shortened version of, you've found the connection. Since they are all three letters long, that length is a strong hint that they are abbreviations or nicknames.
People might struggle because they don't know all the abbreviations. For example, **APR** could be confused with the month, and **SEC** could be confused with 'second' or 'section.' **CFO** and **IRA** are very specific to business and retirement, which might make them seem unrelated to the others.
If you see a group of three-letter acronyms, try to think of what they stand for, especially in a professional or money-related context. The key is recognizing that they are all initialisms that represent important concepts or roles in finance. If you can identify one or two, use them as a clue to figure out the context for the remaining words.
The words themselves seem completely random and unrelated: a verb (**FLOW**), a deity (**GOD**), a verb or month (**MAR**), and a small flap or key (**TAB**). The main pitfall is not thinking to read the words backward, as this is a less common type of connection. You might try to group them by length or starting letter instead.
Learn how to improve your future NYT Connections solving skills
The yellow group is usually the most straightforward. Solve it first to build confidence.
Some words might fit multiple categories. Look for the most specific connection to crack a group.
If you're confident about 3 words in a group, the 4th is likely correct too. Tested countless times.
