The New York Times Connections
The New York Times Connections

The New York Times' Connections puzzle on Thursday mixed museum art, gridiron vocabulary and household objects, with a wordplay-based final category that may leave some players scratching their heads.

Connections puzzle No. 1229 went live at midnight local time Thursday. As always, players must sort 16 words into four groups of four, and the game allows only four mistakes before it ends. Category hints appear first below, followed by the full answers for those who want them.

Thursday's 16 words

The words on Thursday's board are MOBILE, COMFORT, BLANK, SAFETY, RELIEF, GRIP, END, BUST, HANDLE, TACKLE, PILL, KNOB, SHE, GUARD, HILT and STATUE.

At first glance, the grid offers several tempting overlaps. Many of the words carry more than one meaning, and a few could appear to fit in two or even three groups.

Spoiler-free hints for each group

Connections color-codes its categories by difficulty, with yellow the easiest, followed by green, blue and purple.

Yellow: Things you hold on to with your hand. Green: Works of art that might be found in a museum, often made of stone or metal. Blue: Jobs on the field in a sport most popular in the United States. Purple: Think about what's on your bed, but don't finish the word.

One word from each group

For players who want a bit more help before seeing the answers, here is one word from each category:

Yellow: KNOB Green: STATUE Blue: GUARD Purple: SHE

Watch out for red herrings

Thursday's grid includes a few deliberate traps.

Several words could suggest a category connected to swords or knives. HILT, HANDLE, GRIP and GUARD can all describe parts of a blade, but there is no sword category in Thursday's puzzle. GUARD in particular belongs elsewhere.

Another apparent group involves words linked to calm or protection. COMFORT, RELIEF, SAFETY and GUARD could all fit a theme about feeling secure, but that is not one of the puzzle's categories either.

HANDLE, MOBILE and SAFETY each carry more than one meaning, so players are advised to confirm that all four words in a group share the same connection before submitting.

Today's Connections answers

Players who want to keep solving should stop reading here.

Yellow — Parts to be grasped: GRIP, HANDLE, HILT, KNOB

This was the most straightforward group. Each word describes the part of an object designed to be held, whether on a door, a tool, a racket or a sword.

Green — Kinds of sculptures: BUST, MOBILE, RELIEF, STATUE

A bust depicts a person's head and shoulders, and a statue typically shows a full figure. A relief is a sculpture that projects from a flat background, as seen on many monuments and building facades. A mobile is a hanging sculpture with balanced parts that move in the air, a form popularized by American artist Alexander Calder. MOBILE may have caught some players off guard because the word is more commonly associated with phones.

Blue — American football positions: END, GUARD, SAFETY, TACKLE

All four are positions on a football roster. Guards and tackles line up on the offensive and defensive lines, ends play on the edge of the formation, and safeties form the last line of defense in the secondary. With the NFL season in full swing, many fans likely spotted this group quickly, though the words' everyday meanings may have pulled others in different directions.

Purple — Starts of bedding: BLANK, COMFORT, PILL, SHE

As is often the case, the purple category relied on wordplay. Each word forms the beginning of a common bedding item: BLANK becomes blanket, COMFORT becomes comforter, PILL becomes pillow and SHE becomes sheet. SHE was likely the biggest giveaway, since it is the one word on the board that makes little sense in any other category.

Strategy tips for Connections

Players who struggled Thursday may benefit from a few common approaches.

Look for the odd one out. Words that do not seem to fit anywhere obvious, such as SHE or PILL on Thursday's board, often point to the purple category, which tends to involve hidden words, prefixes, homophones or partial spellings.

Solve the hardest group first, when possible. Many experienced players try to identify the purple category early. Once the trickiest group is cleared, the remaining words tend to fall into place more easily.

Count the candidates. If five or more words seem to fit one theme, that theme is probably a decoy, or one of the words belongs in a different group. On Thursday, five words could plausibly relate to grasping, but GUARD belonged with football.

Don't rush. Since the game allows only four mistakes, it often pays to work out all four groups mentally before submitting the first one.

Use the shuffle button. Rearranging the grid can help players see connections that were not obvious in the original layout.

About Connections

Connections launched in 2023 and has quickly become one of the most popular titles in The New York Times Games lineup, alongside Wordle, Strands, Spelling Bee and the Mini Crossword. Players are given a grid of 16 words each day and must identify four groups of four that share a common thread.

Every puzzle has only one correct solution, and words with double meanings are designed to make sorting them more difficult. Players can share their results using a grid of colored squares that shows the order in which they solved each group without revealing any answers.

A new Connections puzzle, No. 1230, will be released at midnight Friday local time.