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.
Big is a common word that might be mistaken for a synonym of 'large' or 'important', or could be seen as a general descriptor in any category.
Point could be misinterpreted as a scoring term in sports, leading solvers toward the championship awards group.
Ring might be thought of as a verb meaning to call or a sound, but here it's a championship award.
CUP, MEDAL, PENNANT, and RING are all prizes given to winners in sports and other competitions. They range from trophies to wearable symbols of victory.
CONCERN, FOCUS, POINT, and SUBJECT all refer to the central topic or issue being discussed. It's about what you're talking about or considering.
AIRPLANE!, BIG, CLUE, and TWINS are all popular comedic films released in the 1980s. Each is a classic from that decade.
ENLIST, LISTEN, SILENT, and TINSEL are perfect anagrams of each other—they all use the same six letters arranged differently. A tricky wordplay category.
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.
