How does NYT Connections work?
You're shown 16 words and must sort them into four groups of four. Each group shares a hidden common theme. The groups are color-coded by difficulty: Yellow (easiest), Green, Blue, and Purple (hardest). You get four guesses — if you select four words that are all in the same group, they're removed. Guess wrong four times and the puzzle reveals the answers.
What's the hardest part of Connections?
The purple category. NYT designs it to be genuinely tricky — often involving wordplay, obscure knowledge, or a lateral thinking twist. Don't submit purple until you've solved the other three groups by elimination.
Can I use this tool on my phone?
Yes — the helper is fully responsive. Type the words into the cells, tap tiles to select them, and tap a color button to assign the group. The layout adjusts to two columns on smaller screens.
Why doesn't this tool show me the answer automatically?
NYT Connections answers require understanding the puzzle's unique theme — something that changes every day and can't be solved by pattern-matching against a dictionary. This helper gives you a workspace and strategy framework to work it out yourself.