The New York Times Connections
The New York Times Connections

NEW YORK — The New York Times' Connections puzzle on Saturday mixed pirate loot, shirt styles and U.S. geography, but its hardest group hid the endings of powerful weather systems.

Connections asks players to sort 16 words into four groups of four. Players get four mistakes, and the color-coded difficulty runs from yellow, the easiest, to purple, the hardest.

Hints come first, followed by the full answers.

Today's word list

The 16 words on Saturday's board are POLO, EASTER, NEW, CLONE, RHODE, RINGER, SOON, TREASURE, HENLEY, BOUNTY, NORTH, CANE, SPOILS, SOUTH, RAGLAN and BOOTY.

How hard is it?

TechRadar's puzzle writer rated the game "Hard" but still finished with a perfect score.

Watch out for decoys

BOUNTY, POLO and CANE each have more than one meaning, so players should check that a connection works for all four words before submitting.

The biggest trap involves compass directions. Two compass points sit on the board, and a third tile looks like one if you read only its first four letters.

That decoy caught at least one expert. TechRadar's writer first linked EASTER, RHODE, SOUTH and NORTH, thinking the group was about islands, and received a "one away" message before realizing it was about U.S. states.

Hints for each group

The yellow category relates to things a pirate might walk away with. The green category relates to different styles of clothing. The blue category relates to the beginnings of certain names. The purple category relates to weather.

For a stronger nudge, try treating the purple entries as fragments instead of complete words.

Today's categories

The four groups are Pirate's Plunder, Kinds of Shirts, First Words of U.S. State Names and Ends of Storm Types.

Today's Connections answers

Spoiler warning: the full solutions follow.

The yellow group, Pirate's Plunder, is BOOTY, BOUNTY, SPOILS and TREASURE.

The green group, Kinds of Shirts, is HENLEY, POLO, RAGLAN and RINGER. A raglan has sleeves that extend to the collar, and a ringer has contrasting bands at the collar and cuffs.

The blue group, First Words of U.S. State Names, is NEW, NORTH, RHODE and SOUTH. These start state names such as New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island and South Carolina.

The purple group, Ends of Storm Types, is CANE, CLONE, EASTER and SOON. They complete hurricane, cyclone, nor'easter and monsoon.

Strategy tips

The shirts group was probably the safest start, since HENLEY and RAGLAN have few other meanings.

The purple group shows why odd entries deserve a closer look. When words like CLONE and SOON seem out of place, try adding letters to the front to see whether a larger word appears.

About the game

Connections is edited by Wyna Liu. A new puzzle appears at midnight in each player's time zone. Connections No. 1246 arrives Sunday.