If you are struggling to solve today’sConnectionspuzzle, there may be a good reason why. Any puzzle can have one too many tricks for players to solve, or to at least make it much harder and more difficult to do so. However,those same tricks sometimes reveal clues as to what the real categories are. That being said, sometimes you just reach a category that you don’t know enough about to solve it, making it feel impossible. This could be the case for you today, and if it is, we have all the clues you need to win.
If you want a simple but still familiar puzzle, theNYT’sMini Crosswordpuzzleis a great one to try to solve every day.The puzzle has around the same difficulty as a traditional version, but due to its size it is much faster to solve. It is always a 5x5 size, meaning that the words can only be so long and that also can narrow down the choices you need to make. Either way, it is a fun puzzle and one that makes it worth the time to solve it.
Today’s Connections Category Hints
FEBRUARY 02 #602
This puzzle has some tricky spots, and I myselfhad to look up a word just to see what it meantbefore I could attempt to solve the rest of the puzzle. Sometimes just knowing a definition can change your puzzling time for the better. This puzzle has a few words like that,and knowing some context will be very important for figuring out the rest of the puzzle. Here are four clues to help you solve the puzzle:
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If you still need some hints,the category names might just clear everything up for you. Keep going after that to see the spoilers.
HANGDOG
SORRY
This first category is one I got after I looked up what HANGDOG was supposed to mean. I had no idea, but after seeing the meaningI was able to connect it to DOWN and SORRY. I was a little confused about the rest of the words, but then I saw BLUE and I figured that was what it had to be. It’s a very sad category, and I do prefer more upbeat words in my puzzles, but we don’t always get what we want.
HAWK
SWALLOW
This one was quite difficult, as PARTRIDGE is another bird which makes it hard to figure out what the difference between the words are. GRIFFIN was also a potential red herring, as it could also be something that flies. I tried a few different combinations,with HAWK, SWALLOW, and PARTRIDGE getting swapped in and out before I finally got the right one. I don’t think I would have clocked the verbal association on my own, but I did notice that SWALLOW was a verb and had looked for other places to put it.
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PARTRIDGE
PICKLES
This is where my puzzle time went down. I was low on guesses due to the birds, and I only really had one chance at it.I knew MUNSTER was from a TV show, but the rest of them I was less sure of. I thought that it also might be a category of types of cheese, with SWISS but MUNSTER isn’t spelled right for that to be the case. I also thought different kinds of stores might be possible, and I got a “one away” but didn’t get close enough.
STREET
SWISS
Lastly, this one was what I would have solved if the “store” possibility was the right one. MART, POP, and STREET were all in the potential store category,but I never found the right fourth word, and I wasn’t on the right track for why I was guessing those words in the first place. However, I don’t think I would have gotten the letter connection because I am not as familiar with two of the options in this category and likely wouldn’t have thought of them.
Other Games Like Connections
If you still need some puzzling in your life, there are plenty of possibilities and some of them arelisted in the box below.
Is It Free To Play?
Wordle(NYT)
Solve a random five-letter word by using color clues.EveryWordleanswercan be found in our daily updated list.
Yes
Worldle
Name a country based only on its silhouette, and a few geographical hints.
The Password Game
Create a password in this ever-changing, not-so-simple game. You can find somehelpful tips in ourPassword Gameguide.
Absurdle
attempt to solve a game ofWordlewithout any help. With each guess, the game reveals as little information as possible, even changing the word if need be.
