The New York Times Connections
The New York Times Connections

The New York Times' Connections puzzle returned Thursday with its 1,124th edition, a grid that puzzle trackers described as leaning toward moderate difficulty, blending mocktail terminology, music journalism, floor coverings and discontinued car models into a mix designed to trip up even experienced solvers.

Connections, edited by Wyna Liu, asks players to sort 16 words into four groups of four based on a shared theme, with categories color-coded from yellow, the easiest, through green and blue, up to purple, typically the most conceptually demanding. Players are allowed four incorrect guesses before the puzzle ends, and the game has become one of the Times' most widely played daily offerings since its official launch in June 2023, standing alongside Wordle and the crossword as a daily ritual for millions of players around the world.

Thursday's grid featured the following 16 words: NA, SPIRIT-FREE, VIRGIN, ZERO-PROOF, BILLBOARD, PITCHFORK, ROLLING STONE, SPIN, PERSIAN, PRAYER, SHAG, THROW, FIREBIRD, G6, GRAND PRIX and TRANS AM. According to multiple outlets that covered the puzzle, roughly half of the words carried a strong secondary meaning that could easily mislead solvers away from the correct grouping, a deliberate design choice that puzzle trackers say defines much of Connections' ongoing appeal.

For those seeking hints before diving into the full solve, outlets circulated general clues without revealing the specific groupings. The yellow category was described as labels a bar might use to describe a mocktail, hinting at drinks made without alcohol. The green category pointed toward publications and websites that review and rank songs and albums. The blue category referenced four different types of a single common household item found on the floor. The purple category, as usual the trickiest of the four, was hinted at as model names belonging to an American car brand that stopped production in 2010.

For players ready for the complete answers, puzzle number 1,124 broke down as follows.

The yellow category, titled "Non-Alcoholic Designators," included NA, SPIRIT-FREE, VIRGIN and ZERO-PROOF. Each term functions as a label used on drink menus or beverage packaging to indicate a beverage contains no alcohol. NA stands for non-alcoholic and commonly appears on beer cans and wine bottles, while "virgin" is the traditional bar-industry term for a cocktail made without spirits, as in a virgin mojito or virgin colada. "Zero-proof" and "spirit-free" represent more contemporary industry branding for the same concept, terms that have grown increasingly common on upscale cocktail menus in recent years. Puzzle trackers described this as the most accessible entry point into Thursday's grid, since all four terms carry an unambiguous connection to non-alcoholic drinks.

The green category, "Music Publications," grouped together BILLBOARD, PITCHFORK, ROLLING STONE and SPIN. Each represents a well-known outlet covering the music industry, from Billboard's famous weekly charts to Rolling Stone's long-running cultural authority, Pitchfork's influential album reviews, and Spin's history as a touchstone publication for alternative and indie rock coverage. Commentary on the puzzle noted that SPIN in particular served as an effective red herring elsewhere in the grid, given its more common associations with a laundry cycle, a dance move or a public-relations angle, none of which apply to its correct placement among music outlets.

The blue category, "Kinds of Rugs," included PERSIAN, PRAYER, SHAG and THROW. Each word describes a distinct style or type of floor covering: Persian rugs are the ornate, hand-knotted classics; prayer rugs serve a specific religious function within Islamic worship; shag refers to the retro deep-pile carpet style; and a throw rug is a small accent piece placed loosely around a room. Puzzle trackers flagged this as the day's most deceptive category, since each word carries a strong secondary meaning capable of pulling solvers away from the correct grouping, whether that means associating "Persian" with a cat breed or nationality, "prayer" with religious practice generally, "shag" with a hairstyle or slang term, or "throw" with the verb meaning to hurl an object.

The purple category, the day's most difficult, was titled "Pontiac Models" and featured FIREBIRD, G6, GRAND PRIX, and TRANS AM. Each word represents a specific vehicle nameplate produced by Pontiac, the American car brand that ceased production in 2010. Firebird and Trans Am both carry strong alternate associations, evoking mythology and geography respectively, while Grand Prix reads naturally as a reference to motor racing, and G6 is perhaps best known outside automotive circles as the subject of a popular song lyric referencing a private jet. Commentary on the puzzle suggested this category was likely to stump any solver without specific familiarity with Pontiac's model lineup, since none of the four words carry an obvious surface-level connection to cars for a general audience.

Puzzle trackers described Thursday's overall difficulty as moderate, noting that the non-alcoholic drinks category tends to click quickly once a solver spots the shared theme, while the music publications and rug categories require setting aside more obvious first impressions of certain words. The car models group, meanwhile, was widely flagged as the category most likely to stump players without a background in automotive history, given how thoroughly disguised each of its four words appeared within the broader grid.

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 and unambiguously defined, since building early momentum with confident correct guesses can help maintain focus heading into trickier groupings. Solvers are also encouraged to consider alternate or figurative meanings of individual words, since Connections puzzles are deliberately constructed to include significant overlap between categories, a pattern once again evident throughout Thursday's grid.

Connections continues to draw a devoted daily following, with new puzzles released at midnight in each player's local time zone, meaning solvers around the world are frequently working through different numbered editions of the game at any given moment. With Thursday's puzzle now resolved, attention turns to Friday's edition, puzzle number 1,125, set to go live at midnight in each player's respective time zone, as players around the world continue their daily routines of guessing, deducing and working to preserve their personal Connections solving streaks.

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