Waking up and opening the NYT Games app has become a secular ritual for millions of people. It’s the new morning coffee. You’ve probably felt that specific spike of dopamine when you nail a purple category, but lately, there’s been a lot of chatter—honestly, a lot of frustration—about the difficulty spikes. People are complaining that there is quite a lot of NYT Connections nonsense happening where the overlap is so aggressive it feels rigged.
But is it actually getting harder? Or are we just getting predictable?
Wyna Liu, the associate puzzle editor at The New York Times, isn't trying to ruin your morning. Usually. But she is the architect behind those devious "red herrings" that make you waste three guesses on "types of bread" only to realize the fourth word was actually "dough" in the context of money. It’s a psychological game as much as a linguistic one.
The Evolution of the Grid
Early on, Connections felt like a straightforward categorization task. You’d see four colors, four animals, and four planets. Boom. Done in thirty seconds. Now, the grid is a minefield. The editors have leaned heavily into what they call "internal overlap."
Basically, this means they’ll put six or seven words that could easily fit into one category. If you see Bass, Pike, Perch, Sole, Flounder, and Carp, you're in trouble. You have to wait. You have to look for the outlier. Maybe Bass belongs in "Instruments" and Sole belongs in "Parts of a Shoe." If you click the first four fish you see, you lose. It’s a test of impulse control.
The complexity isn't just in the words themselves, but in how they function as different parts of speech. A word like "Project" can be a noun (a task) or a verb (to throw forward). The NYT staff loves these homonyms. They use them to bridge two seemingly unrelated groups, forcing your brain to toggle between different definitions at lightning speed.
Why "Quite a Lot of NYT Connections" Players Feel Burned
There’s a specific kind of "NYT Difficulty" that feels different from a crossword. In a crossword, if you don't know a trivia fact, you can usually get it through the crosses. In Connections, you’re trapped in a closed loop.
If you don't know that "Broom," "Brush," "Dustpan," and "Mop" are all things you do with your hair (Wait, no, that doesn't work—see? I'm doing it right now), you’re stuck. The game relies on "lateral thinking."
The Purple Category Problem
The Purple category is notoriously the "Wordplay" category. It’s rarely about what the words are and almost always about what can be added to them.
- Words that follow "CHEST"
- Homophones (Ewe, You, View)
- Words that are also rappers (Common, Game, Future)
Lately, the Purple categories have become incredibly abstract. We’ve seen categories like "Words that contain a body part if you remove the first letter." That’s a massive leap for a casual player to make while they're still rubbing sleep out of their eyes. It’s why social media becomes a war zone every time a particularly "niche" grid drops.
The Science of the "Aha!" Moment
Psychologists often talk about "Insight Problem Solving." This is that moment where the solution suddenly pops into your head without a gradual build-up. Connections is designed to trigger this.
When you stare at a grid for five minutes and see nothing, your brain is actually working in the background, suppressing the most obvious (and often wrong) associations. This is called "functional fixedness." You see the word "Iron" and you think of a laundry tool. You have to break that "fixation" to realize it’s actually a golf club.
The reason we keep coming back, despite the "quite a lot of NYT" frustration, is that the "Aha!" moment releases a massive amount of dopamine. The harder the solve, the bigger the rush. It’s the same reason people climb mountains or play Elden Ring. We want to feel smarter than the person who designed the obstacle.
Is the NYT Audience Getting Smarter?
There is a theory in the puzzle world called the Flynn Effect, usually applied to IQ scores, but it works for games too. As a population plays a certain type of puzzle, they get better at it. The "tricks" become tropes.
A year ago, a "Words ending in a drink" category might have been the hard Purple. Today? That’s a Yellow or Green at best. The editors have to escalate. They have to find deeper layers of trivia and more obscure wordplay to keep the veteran players engaged. This leaves the newcomers feeling like they’ve walked into an advanced calculus class when they just wanted to do some basic addition.
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The Role of Cultural Context
The NYT is a New York-centric publication. Sometimes the "difficulty" is actually just a cultural barrier. If a category relies on "Subway Lines" or "Broadway Slang," someone playing in London or Sydney is going to have a rough time. The editors try to keep it general, but the "New York" bias occasionally slips through, making certain grids feel nearly impossible for the global audience.
How to Beat the Grid (Usually)
If you’re tired of losing your streak, you need a system. Stop clicking immediately.
- Scan for "The Extra." If you see five things that fit a category, leave that category for last. It’s a trap.
- Talk out loud. Seriously. Saying the words helps you hear the homophones. "Blue" and "Blew" sound the same, but your eyes only see the color.
- Identify the "Specific" words. If you see a word like "Quark," it probably doesn't have many meanings. Use it as an anchor. It either means a subatomic particle or a type of cheese. Look for other particles or other cheeses.
- The "Missing Word" Trick. If you suspect a Purple category, try putting a word before or after the options. If "Fire" and "Water" are there, try "Works." Fire-works, Water-works. Does "Clock" fit? Clock-works. Now you’ve found the link.
The Meta-Game of NYT Connections
There is a community aspect to this that didn't exist with puzzles twenty years ago. We have the "Connections Companion" blog, Twitter threads, and TikTokers who explain the daily solve.
This meta-game has turned a solo activity into a communal experience. When the grid is "bad"—meaning the categories are too thin or the overlap is too cruel—everyone complains together. When it’s "good," everyone shares their little colored squares with pride.
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The game isn't just about the four groups. It’s about the conversation that happens afterward. The NYT knows this. They aren't just selling a puzzle; they're selling a daily talking point.
Actionable Strategy for Tomorrow
Stop treating Connections like a speed test. It isn't Wordle. You don't get extra points for finishing in thirty seconds.
- The "Walk Away" Method: if you have two misses and you’re staring at a wall of text, close the app. Go do something else for twenty minutes. When you come back, your brain will have "reset," and the pattern you were missing will often jump out at you.
- Categorize by Difficulty: Try to solve the hardest looking one first. If you can spot the Purple or Blue group through the noise, the Yellow and Green (the "easy" ones) will basically solve themselves.
- Study the "Triggers": Start a mental list of the NYT's favorite tricks. They love: body parts, palindromes, synonyms for "cool," and words that are also famous last names.
The grid will keep getting weirder. The overlaps will keep getting tighter. But that's kinda the point. If it were easy, you wouldn't bother sharing your results with the group chat. You're not just looking for four groups of four; you're looking for that brief moment where you outsmart a professional puzzle editor. That feeling is worth a few "One Away" frustrations.
The next time you see a grid that makes absolutely no sense, remember: it's not you, it's Wyna. And she's waiting for you to find the thread.