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Connections is one of the most popular word association games in the New York Times’ repertoire of puzzles. Like Wordle, there’s a new puzzle to play every day, but unlike Wordle, Connections is all about connecting an existing set of words through common themes, rather than guessing an individual word yourself.
Of course, this may vary from player to player, but we’d say that Connections is much more of a brain teaser than Wordle, so the need for clues and hints will come in handy, especially if you’re running out of guesses. Below is everything you need to know about puzzle #979 on February 14.
How difficult is today’s Connections? Plus, hints for each group
Like always, there are four groups (or categories) that you need to sort the grid of sixteen words into. It can sometimes be difficult to know where to start with Connections, so to start you off, we can give you a few hints and starter words for each group, along with the four different categories in the #979 puzzle. NYT rates today’s puzzle as a 2.3 out of 5 for difficulty.
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Group name clues
- 🟨 Upwards trajectory
- 🟩 Something that sticks out
- 🟦 Movie roles of a Hollywood actor
- 🟪 Words that come before a specific type of sweet/candy
One word from each group
- 🟨 HIKE
- 🟩 BUMP
- 🟦 GUMP
- 🟪 BREATH
Today’s Connections answers (February 14, puzzle #979)
If you’ve run through all the clues for different groups but are still stumped and cannot complete the entire puzzle, the full results are below. As always, there are four groups with four words in each group.
- 🟨 Uptick: HIKE, JUMP, RISE, SPIKE
- 🟩 Protuberance: BUMP, HUMP, LUMP, MOUND
- 🟦 Tom Hanks roles: GUMP, PHILLIPS, SULLY, WOODY
- 🟪 Words before “Mint”: BREATH, JUNIOR, PEPPER, SPEAR
Does Connections get harder every day?
No, difficulty doesn’t inherently scale each day, but some Connections will be harder than others – or be particularly hard if you’re missing a frame of reference or lack knowledge in a certain topic. If one or more of the groups is all about linking together, for example, names of baseball players, or a topic you’re not knowledgeable about, then you can quickly struggle with where to start.
We’d say that the game progressively gets easier as you complete a category or two, since you’re thinning out the words and can remove any potentially incorrect links (many words in the puzzle may seem to belong to a common theme, but end up acting as red herrings). You can only make four mistakes before it’s game over, so if you’re on your last guess, it may be worth consulting our hints and clues before you commit to an answer.
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