Software:The New York Times Connections

From HandWiki
Short description: Daily category-matching puzzle

The New York Times Connections
Developer(s)The New York Times
Publisher(s)The New York Times Games
Writer(s)Wyna Liu
Platform(s)Web, iOS, Android
ReleaseJune 12, 2023
Genre(s)Word game
Mode(s)Single-player

Connections is a daily category-matching puzzle[1] developed and published by The New York Times as part of The New York Times Games. It was released on June 12, 2023, during its beta phase. It is the second-most-played game that is published by The New York Times, behind Wordle.[2][3][4] The puzzles are written by editor Wyna Liu.

Gameplay

March 12, 2024
July 31, 2025
A partially completed game (March 12, 2024) and a completed game (July 31, 2025) of Connections. The remaining answers for the partial game are: "Also, And, Plus, With" in green for "Including", and "Daddy, Harlem, Howl, If" in purple for "Famous poems". In the completed game, the theme words also correspond to the game's color/difficulty scale (with yellow said to be the least difficult, and purple the hardest).

In Connections, the goal is to divide a grid of sixteen terms into four groups of four such that the terms in each group belong to a specific category (e.g., "dog", "cat", "fish", and "parrot" for the category "Household Pets").[5] The categories may involve wordplay such as palindromes or homophones, increasing the difficulty.[1] When a player successfully identifies a group, its category is revealed along with a color-coded difficulty level: categories are rated yellow, green, blue, or purple, with yellow being the most straightforward and purple being the most difficult. Each Connections game has one category from each difficulty level.[1]

The puzzle on April 1, 2024 (April Fools' Day) used emojis instead of words.[6] For April Fools' Day in 2025, the game consisted of symbols and letters,[7] whilst the April Fools' Day 2026 game used rebuses.

For the 1,000th edition of Connections on March 6, 2026, the puzzle used a symbol of the game's icon for one of the playing tiles.[8]

Development

The games department of The New York Times hosts an annual game jam in which participants suggest ideas for upcoming games to release to the website.[9] Connections had been in development for a year before releasing in its beta phase on June 12, 2023.[2][10] The puzzles are written by Wyna Liu, who is also a crossword editor at The New York Times. Liu cited cartoonist Robert Leighton as an inspiration for lateral and visual word play.[11]

Several people associated with Only Connect, a British television quiz show, have commented on the similarity between Connections and the Connecting Wall segment of the program.[12][13][14]

Sports edition

Connections Sports logo

On September 24, 2024, The Athletic, in partnership with The New York Times Games, launched a sports edition of Connections in beta. The sports edition features the same gameplay as the regular version, with each grouping sports-themed.[15][16] The game was officially launched on February 9, 2025, to coincide with Super Bowl LIX. Games are written by The Athletic's managing editor for news, Mark Cooper, who became the site's puzzle editor with the launch.[17] Cooper said that unlike the original version, which he called a word game, the sports edition relied more on a trivia component to solve, with Cooper trying to include one category each game that is trivia based. Additionally, Cooper tries to have the purple category feature wordplay like the original. With the game's official launch, an optional timer for completing the puzzle was added.[18]

In September 2025, themed puzzles for all 32 NFL teams were created to coincide with the start of the 2025 NFL season, and were available for the entire month.[19]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Liu, Wyna (2023-06-26). "How Our New Game, Connections, Is Put Together" (in en-US). The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/26/crosswords/new-game-connections.html. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Valinsky, Jordan (August 28, 2023). "Move over Wordle, the New York Times might have found its next hit game". CNN Business. https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/28/business/connections-nyt-new-game-launch/index.html. 
  3. ↑ Miller, Chance (August 28, 2023). "Connections puzzle game comes to NYT Games app on iPhone and iPad". 9to5Mac. https://9to5mac.com/2023/08/28/connections-puzzle-game-comes-to-nyt-games-app-on-iphone-and-ipad/. 
  4. ↑ Silberling, Amanda (August 28, 2023). "Connections is The New York Times' most played game after Wordle". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2023/08/28/connections-is-the-new-york-times-most-played-game-after-wordle/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANP33xVA0B_8JQm57ccaYwVpPtpzsB7dVWtFteFQLoekKFZ2Z4NaxWMXVY_BBEVoe20Y02ssUcV2RwiZSzcceypc20FFQo380Om1AusQ3VH0X8g9IBS7yIq8oc3Zk5BbqhfccV6qMLYsonEQ-zksC6xhysbpV4aM0hdewbj9tX9P. 
  5. ↑ Morris, Chris (August 15, 2023). "NYT Connections, and the company's quest to create the next Wordle". Fast Company. https://www.fastcompany.com/90938716/the-quest-to-create-the-next-wordle. 
  6. ↑ Hart, Jordan (April 1, 2024). "The NYT Connections game got an April Fools' Day makeover, and users are freaking out". https://www.businessinsider.com/fans-of-nyt-connections-game-freaking-out-about-new-look-2024-4. 
  7. ↑ "Today's NYT Connections Hints, Answers for April 1, #660" (in en). https://www.cnet.com/tech/gaming/todays-all-symbol-nyt-connections-answer-feels-like-an-april-fools-joke/. 
  8. ↑ Cooper, Gael (6 March 2026). "Today's NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for March 7, #1000". CNET. https://www.cnet.com/web/20260306220505/https:/www.cnet.com/tech/gaming/todays-nyt-connections-hints-answers-and-help-for-march-7-1000/. 
  9. ↑ Amlen, Deb (April 10, 2023). "How We Make Games at The Times". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/10/crosswords/games-digits-beta.html. 
  10. ↑ Webster, Andrew (August 28, 2023). "The New York Times' new word game Connections rolls out on mobile". The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/28/23848942/new-york-times-game-connections-iphone-android. 
  11. ↑ Jeffrey, Joyann (August 29, 2023). "Connections is the NYT's new Wordle alternative. Here's how to play". Today. https://www.today.com/popculture/connections-nyt-puzzle-how-to-play-rcna102300. 
  12. ↑ Abdul, Geneva (15 June 2023). "What connects Only Connect and New York Times? Game's similarity puzzles host". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/jun/15/connections-new-york-times-puzzle-only-connect-victoria-coren-mitchell. 
  13. ↑ @VictoriaCoren (14 June 2023). "Do you know this has been a TV show in the UK since 2008 ?! It's so similar I guess you must do?". https://twitter.com/VictoriaCoren/status/1668765486056718339. 
  14. ↑ "The New York Times' Latest Puzzle Seems Awfully Familiar". 2023-06-19. https://kotaku.com/new-york-times-connections-only-connect-puzzle-wordle-1850553072. 
  15. ↑ Effress, Sarah (September 24, 2024). "What is Connections: Sports Edition? Explaining the new twist on New York Times' viral game". https://www.sportingnews.com/us/tsn/news/connections-sports-edition-new-york-times-viral-game-answers/f08b76b1b93c6a7b5d5aeaa7. 
  16. ↑ Cooper, Mark (September 25, 2024). "Try playing The Athletic's first game, Connections: Sports Edition, now in beta". https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5791374/2024/09/25/connections-sports-edition-how-to-play/. 
  17. ↑ "The Athletic Will Officially Launch Its First Game During the Big Game, Bringing Sports and Puzzle Fans a Daily Challenge to Test Their Sports Knowledge". January 29, 2025. https://www.nytco.com/press/the-athletic-will-officially-launch-its-first-game-during-the-big-game-bringing-sports-and-puzzle-fans-a-daily-challenge-to-test-their-sports-knowledge/. 
  18. ↑ Bucholtz, Andrew (February 17, 2025). "Why The Athletic launched Connections: Sports Edition daily game". https://awfulannouncing.com/athletic/connections-sports-edition-mark-cooper.html. 
  19. ↑ Cooper, Mark (September 3, 2025). "Test your NFL knowledge with our Connections: Sports Edition team-themed games". https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6592714/2025/09/03/connections-sports-edition-nfl-team-games/. 
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