Start with the spoiler-free clues. Reveal the answers only when you've truly given up.
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.
Cap could be a verb meaning to top something or a hat, but it's used here as a promotional item, not as a limit or a bottle cap.
Ball might seem like a sporting item or a dance, but it belongs to the 'EYE___' category as in eyeball.
Cap, pin, shirt, and sticker are all typical freebies handed out at events or conventions. The trick is not to overthink them — they're literally common promotional giveaways.
Jot, scrap, shred, and whit each mean a very small amount or piece. They appear in phrases like 'not a jot' or 'not a whit', making them easy to group by their definitions.
ATM (at the moment), CYA (see you), LOL (laugh out loud), and TIA (thanks in advance) are all standard initialisms used in digital communication. They're common but can be confused with other abbreviations.
Ball, brow, lash, and lid all complete the phrase 'EYE' to form a part of the eye: eyeball, eyebrow, eyelash, and eyelid. This is a word-completion category, and the hardest trick is that 'ball' might seem unrelated at first.
a textbook decoy
requires lateral thinking
