The New York Times Connections
The New York Times Connections

The New York Times' Connections puzzle returned Tuesday with its 1,122nd edition, a grid that puzzle trackers described as leaning toward the harder end of the difficulty spectrum, blending a classic board game reference, school sports terminology, a common word pairing and a cleverly disguised category built around beloved children's television characters.

Connections, created by puzzle editor Wyna Liu, challenges players to sort 16 words into four groups of four based on a shared theme, with categories ranging from yellow, the most straightforward, through green and blue, to purple, typically the most conceptually demanding. Players are permitted four incorrect guesses before the puzzle ends, and the game has become one of the Times' most widely played daily offerings, trailing only Wordle in overall popularity among the publication's growing suite of word and logic games.

Tuesday's grid featured the following 16 words and terms: CONSERVATORY, HALL, KITCHEN, STUDY, ALL-AMERICAN, JOCK, LETTERMAN, TEAM CAPTAIN, FRENCH, LEMON, OLIVER, PLOT, BERNIE, COLBERT, DISCOUNT and SAN ANSELMO. According to multiple puzzle trackers, the grid was constructed with deliberate misdirection in mind, designed to lure solvers into grouping words based on surface-level associations before revealing their true, less obvious connections.

For those seeking guidance before attempting the full solve, several outlets circulated general hints without giving away the specific groupings. The yellow category was described as referring to types of spaces found inside a home, while the green category was hinted at as titles or roles associated with students who participate in school sports. The blue category was described as words that come directly before a common four-letter term to form a familiar phrase, and the purple category, as usual the trickiest of the four, was hinted at as names that complete the titles of well-known characters from a long-running children's television program.

For players ready for the complete answers, puzzle number 1122 broke down as follows.

The yellow category, titled "Rooms in Clue," included CONSERVATORY, HALL, KITCHEN and STUDY. All four words represent classic locations found on the board of the mystery game Clue, a connection that puzzle commentary described as approachable for anyone with at least passing familiarity with the game, even those who may not have played it directly, given how frequently references to Clue's rooms and characters have appeared in earlier Connections puzzles.

The green category, "Student-Athlete Designations," grouped together ALL-AMERICAN, JOCK, LETTERMAN and TEAM CAPTAIN. Each term refers to a title, role or informal label commonly associated with student athletes, particularly within high school and college sports settings. Puzzle trackers noted this category was likely identifiable fairly quickly by solvers with some familiarity with school sports culture, even as some of the individual words carried the potential to mislead players toward unrelated categories.

The blue category, "___ Twist," included FRENCH, LEMON, OLIVER and PLOT. Each of these words forms a recognizable phrase when paired with the word "Twist," producing French Twist, Lemon Twist, Oliver Twist and Plot Twist. Commentary on the puzzle noted that "Letterman" and "Twist" in particular carried surface-level associations with entertainment and media that could tempt solvers into forming an incorrect grouping early in their attempt, one of several deliberate red herrings built into Tuesday's grid.

The purple category, the day's most difficult, was titled "Ending in 'Sesame Street' Characters" and featured BERNIE, COLBERT, DISCOUNT and SAN ANSELMO. The connection relied on each term ending with the name of a well-known Sesame Street character: "Ernie" concealed within BERNIE, "Bert" within COLBERT, "Count" within DISCOUNT, and "Elmo" within SAN ANSELMO. Puzzle commentary highlighted this as the source of significant difficulty for many solvers, noting that words like DISCOUNT and SAN ANSELMO in particular were easy to misjudge based on their everyday meanings rather than recognizing the hidden character names embedded at the end of each term.

One columnist covering the puzzle described completing Tuesday's grid with a single mistake, noting that the recurring appearance of Clue-related categories in past Connections puzzles helped make the yellow group recognizable, even without direct familiarity with the board game itself. That same columnist noted encountering more difficulty in the puzzle's final stretch, initially grouping the remaining eight tiles incorrectly before eventually identifying the purple category's hidden Sesame Street references.

Puzzle trackers also emphasized the deliberate structure behind Tuesday's grid, noting that several words appeared designed to fit multiple plausible categories at first glance. Kitchen and Study, for instance, could easily be mistaken for general household-related terms rather than specific references to the Clue board game, while Letterman's connections to television and media could distract from its actual placement within the student-athlete designation category.

Connections continues to draw a devoted following since its official launch in June 2023, with new puzzles released daily at midnight in each player's local time zone. That release schedule means solvers in different parts of the world are frequently working through different numbered editions of the game at any given moment, a detail that has become a familiar quirk for the puzzle's global player base.

According to general strategy guidance the Times has offered for the game, players tend to find the most success by first identifying categories that feel clearly defined, since building confidence with early correct guesses can help maintain momentum heading into trickier groupings. Solvers are also encouraged to consider alternate meanings or hidden structures within individual words, since Connections puzzles are deliberately constructed to include overlap between categories, a pattern once again on clear display in Tuesday's grid.

With Tuesday's puzzle now resolved, attention turns to Wednesday's edition, puzzle number 1123, set to go live at midnight in each player's respective time zone. As with previous days, puzzle trackers and columnists covering the game are expected to publish a fresh round of hints and eventual answers for that edition as players around the world continue their daily routines of guessing, deducing and working to maintain personal solving streaks across the Times' expanding lineup of daily word games.

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