Start with the spoiler-free hints. Go deeper only when you need to. Reveal answers on your own terms.
A direction for each group — no names given.
What kind of thinking each group asks for.
Pointed nudges on the words built to fool you.
Every Connections board plants a few decoys. Here are today’s, and why they pull you the wrong way.
It seems like a straightforward social gathering phrase, making it easy to overlook the literary link to Alice's Wonderland.
A common family term that might trick solvers into searching for other relatives, only to find none on the board.
Looks like a world map or classroom item, but here its spinning nature is the real connection.
Often thought of as mere trash or a fruit part, not instantly recognized as a classic comedy prop.
These four items — BANANA PEEL, CREAM PIE, RUBBER CHICKEN, and SELTZER BOTTLE — are iconic props from slapstick comedy routines, especially popularized in silent films and vaudeville.
GLOBE, GRINDSTONE, GYROSCOPE, and ROULETTE WHEEL all share the property of spinning, whether as a desk ornament, a sharpening tool, a scientific instrument, or a casino centerpiece.
CATERPILLAR, POCKET WATCH, RABBIT HOLE, and TEA PARTY are all elements from Lewis Carroll's 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,' a whimsical and often surreal tale.
Each of these — MASSACHUSETTS, MASTER OF ARTS, MILLIAMPERE, and MOTHER — can be represented by the abbreviation 'MA' in different contexts: state postal code, academic degree, electrical unit, and familial nickname.
Wyna Liu crafts a balanced grid where slapstick props and spinning objects form solid, concrete groups, while the Alice in Wonderland set taps into literary knowledge and the 'MA' abbreviation group demands lateral thinking. The surface diversity of phrases like TEA PARTY and RABBIT HOLE becomes a red herring, cleverly masking the literary category. The purple group is especially elegant, uniting a state, a degree, a unit, and a family term under a tiny two-letter umbrella, rewarding solvers who spot the pattern.
a textbook decoy
requires lateral thinking
Solving the easiest group first reshapes how you read the entire board.
The editors reuse certain misdirection patterns. Learning to spot them saves guesses.
Purple is never what it first appears to be. Six structural patterns explain most of them.
Film titles, band names, and celebrity surnames hide in plain sight.
