Shes right, of course.
To find similarities, you have to look for differences.
But first, why trust me?
Because Ive played every Connections puzzlesince the game came out of beta.
Along the way, Ive discovered tips and tricks that make solving easier.
Here are my best tips for solving Connections.
Theres often some misdirection: theyll put WONDER next to BREAD, or MATCH next to BOX.
Those pairs might go together, in a sense, but theyre almost always red herrings.
(So, for that matter, was GRINDER).
But there was no category referring to dating apps.
A way to think of this is that the red herringscan themselves have a theme.
We had a snake theme for the red herrings back onFriday.
Are there, perhaps, five words in that category?
This was Wyna Lius tip, and its a crucial one for avoiding knee-jerk guesses.
If there are more than four, you cant solve that category yet.
Move on to something else.
So we probably have a category that relates to fire building.
(And we do!
This is where MATCH and TINDER go.)
What was it doing in apuzzlewithout any of those things?
It was an anagram for the word three.
Pay attention to detail
CANT is not the same word as CANT.
DESERT is not DESSERT.
GRINDER is not the name of a dating app; you’re thinking of Grindr.
Dont burn your mistakes
Guys, dontguess.
The information you need is all in the puzzle somewhere.
Speaking of which: if you get a One away!
message on one of your mistakes, pay attention.
Jot down which words were in that grouping, or take a screenshot.
If you get One away!
The same word can appear in more than one of your handwritten lists.
Think of it as brainstorming.
Youll notice patterns during this process, and youll be forced to test them out.
You would simply have to come up withall fourgroupings and then wait to see if you were right.
You could handwrite them on scraps of paper, of course).
Its a great self-teaching tool.
Remember, they oftenthink up a theme for their red herringsjust to throw you off the trail.
They decided things you might draw (CURTAIN, BATH) was a cute little grouping.
They expected you to recognize Wonder Woman by her accessories (LASSO, TIARA).
Theyve been known to use homophones, homonyms, and anagrams.
The only consolation here is that youll never see four devilish groupings in a puzzleonly one or two.
Find the easy one.
And usually, somehow, I do.
