Did you know the most misunderstood category in today's NYT Connections involves diamonds? Most players miss the pattern hiding in plain sight
NYT Connections begins with only sixteen words. Players must identify four correct categories in a test of intuition and vocabulary. Consider grouping the relatively straightforward yellow one at first, but beware: purple can be hard!
Let’s understand the hints to solve the equation today.
Today's Theme: "COOKING CONCOCTIONS"
Be on the lookout for cooked meals
These words are used in different preparations of meals
Think of the various stages the ingredients undergo during cooking
Hint: These are different forms of mixed ingredients used in cooking
Today's Theme: "SEEN ON A TABLE AT A DINNER PARTY"
Focus on items commonly found on dining tables during a formal meal
On tableware, ornaments, and containers for serving dishes.
Think of items served on a table that is used for meals
Hint: These are traditional table elements for serving and presentation
Today's Theme: "THINGS TO CLIMB"
Search for geographical features that people can ascend to
Think of both man-made and natural structures as climbing targets.
Consider the different types of height or other vertical barriers involved.
Hint: These represent different things a person might climb upward
Today's Theme: "WHAT 'DIAMOND' CAN REFER TO"
These words are used to describe “diamond” in different forms.
Look for ways the “diamond” term is used in different contexts
Identify geometric, physical, pastime, and metaphoric names of the word.
Hint: Each represents a distinct definition or usage of "diamond."
Practice with hints from previous game puzzles. This will sharpen skills for the coming games.
Yellow category hints always focus on a direct word-to-function connection. Today's focus is on cooking. Practice with yesterday 28 April 2025 hints involving hair styling products.
Green Category hints are movement hints. Today's hints feature table items. The approach to guess these hints is similar to the 27 April 2025 hints associated with ball movements.
For the Blue category about things to climb, apply a different recognition strategy than 26 April 2025's hint about person surnames with the same first name. Today's category groups items by a shared potential action rather than nomenclature patterns.
The difficulty in the purple category is due to its vastness of its contexts. To solve todays' "diamond" hints, requires semantic flexibility and domain knowledge.
For those who want the complete solutions to today's puzzle:
Yellow (Easiest): BATTER, DOUGH, MIXTURE, PASTE
Blue (Medium-Challenging): CANDLESTICK, PITCHER, PLACEMAT, PLATE
Purple (Hardest): LADDER, MOUNTAIN, ROPE, TREE
Green (Medium): GEMSTONE, INFIELD, RHOMBUS, SUIT
Puzzle designer Wyna Liu developed Connections for the NY Times, part of the NYT Games family, in 2023. Today's Connections puzzle offers a fascinating mix of everyday knowledge (cooking mixtures, table items), physical activities (climbing), and semantic flexibility (diamond meanings).