Beginner's Guide to NYT Connections
New here? We'll walk you through the rules, scoring system, and the pattern‑spotting skills needed to conquer the daily puzzle.
← Back to HomeHow the Puzzle Works
NYT Connections presents you with a 4×4 grid—that's 16 words in total. Your mission is to group the words into four sets of four that share a hidden relationship.
- Select any four words you think belong together.
- If you're right, they lock in as a correct group and are removed from the board.
- If you're wrong, you lose one of your four mistakes. After four misses, the game ends.
Scoring & Difficulty Tiers
Groups come in four colors, from easiest to hardest: Yellow, Green, Blue, and Purple.
You earn bragging rights for finishing with fewer guesses. Many solvers aim for fewer than two mistakes for a "Perfect".
Proven Strategies
Common Category Patterns
- Synonyms / Antonyms
- Movie or Book Titles
- Sports Team Mascots
- Words Containing a Letter Sequence (e.g., "ING")
- Homophones
- Foreign-Language Loanwords
- Puns & Wordplay
- Shared Prefixes or Suffixes
FAQ
Ready to Practice?
Put these tips to work on today's puzzle or explore our full archive.