Today’s Answer and Hints (Tuesday, April 9, 2024)
Connections is an addictive puzzle from the geniuses at the New York Times. It requires players to find the connections between 16 words, and place them in four groups of four. We have the solution to Connections for April 9, 2024, along with hints to help you solve it yourself.
SPOILERS AHEAD (CLUES)
Today’s Connections (Puzzle #303) Category Clues
Today, as every day, you need to split the 16 words that make up the Connections puzzle grid into four groups of four based on specific categories. It isn’t as easy as it sounds. Fortunately, we’re on hand to help you solve today’s Connections puzzle.
If you want to jump straight to today’s Connections solution, scroll past the next spoiler warning. However, if you’d rather see some category clues designed to help you solve it without giving the answers away first:
Yellow: “Often the accompaniment to length”
Green: “Things you’d see in a salon”
Blue: “Regularly seen in Game of Thrones”
Purple: “Ringo Starr and Dave Grohl bash these”
SPOILERS AHEAD (SOLUTION)
The Connections Solution for Tuesday, April 9, 2024
If those hints aren’t helpful enough, and you find yourself struggling to beat Connections without running out of mistakes, here are the solutions for all four categories:
Yellow: “Breadth” = EXTENT, RANGE, REACH, SCOPE
Green: “Hair Tools” = BRUSH, COMB, DRYER, IRON
Blue: “Heraldry Terms” = ARMS, COAT, CREST, SHIELD
Purple: “Words Before ‘Drum'” = EAR, KETTLE, OIL, STEEL
What Made Today’s Connections Difficult
Today’s Connections puzzle was made difficult due to the following:
- The obvious sets of red herrings across multiple groups are “arms” and “ear” as two parts of the body, plus “iron” and “kettle” as household items.
- Many people may struggle with the blue group, as heraldry isn’t something most of us are either familiar with or deal with on a regular basis. Unless we’re watching shows about medieval history.
Our Top Tips to Beat Connections Every Day
- Shuffle the words as many times as you need. Shuffling the words around means you’re more likely to spot the connections.
- Look for differences as well as similarities. The NYT is trying to trip you up, so look for what divides the words with similar meanings.
- Take your time, and don’t rush into a guess. Connections isn’t a timed challenge, so you have the luxury of planning everything out.
- Look for common themes over time. The more you play Connections, the more you’ll spot recurring themes cropping up regularly.
- Tune into the NYT editors’ way of thinking. It’s the puzzle setters you’re competing against, so you need to understand their game plan.
Now that you have completed today’s Connections puzzle (with a little help from your friends at MUO), you should check out some of the other free games from the New York Times.
Wordle is the best-known of them all, and challenges you to find a 5-letter word within six guesses. For every letter you find, you get told if it’s in the correct place, allowing you to whittle down the possible options. If you need help with Wordle, check out our tips and tricks to improve your Wordle score.
There’s also Strands, the newest addition to the New York Times’ burgeoning list of games. Just like Connections, it’s extremely challenging, but in a unique string-the-letters-together way. We recommend you check out our best tips for beating Strands to give yourself a leg up on the daily challenge.
Or, if you’re really only into Connections but want more tips than are offered above, check out our longer list of Connections tips and tricks.