The Connections game provides players with an opportunity to take 16 words and arrange them into four categories of four related words each. Its colored levels of difficulty -- yellow (easy), green (medium), blue (hard), and purple (hardest) -- show how the players must seek out the hidden connections that link together seemingly unconnected terms.
Let’s understand the hints to solve the equation today.
Today's Theme: "THROB”
Look for words that describe rhythmic or pulsating movements
Some strong, repetitive motions or sounds
Heart-pounding.
Hint: All of them as both noun and verb act in a pounding sense.
Today's Theme: "LANDFORMS"
Geographic feature in the natural landscapes
There are different earthen-type terrain formations.
Consider a variety of distinct topographic features mapped.
Hint: These are all natural elevated or depressed features of the Earth's surface.
Today's Theme: "PICTURE HANGING NEEDS"
Look for something needed while hanging art on a wall.
Tools and hardware used for home decoration.
What else would you need to display framed photos or art properly?
Hint: These are all commonly used together for one specific household task.
Today's Theme: "FOOT___"
These words can all be appended to the prefix 'FOOT' to form a compound or phrases.
Think of where "FOOT" can be placed before a word.
Think across all the different meanings: sports, anatomy, measurement, etc.
Hint: Some of these combinations are more commonly hyphenated than others.
The Purple category uses the "blank completion" technique we've seen before. When you see "FOOT___", try adding each word to see which combinations form common phrases or terms, a staple of the hardest puzzles in Connections.
Blue category items are grouped according to the function they share in carrying out some task (hanging pictures). This builds on tactics from the puzzle dated 3 April 2025, showcasing a shared pattern of Connections, in which the bond is more practical than linguistic.
For the Yellow category, identifying words that share a common concept of rhythmic pounding or beating will lead you to the solution. This approach has really worked during the 4 April 2025 puzzle, where words have similar meanings or functions.
The Green category pertains to different geographical terms relative to a particular field of study. This is reminiscent of the 5 April 2025 classification of words as related to physical geography is one example of how Connections utilizes jargon.
For those who want the complete solutions to today's puzzle:
Yellow (Easiest): BEAT, POUND, PULSE, THUMP
Green (Medium): CAPE, CRATER, GORGE, RIDGE
Blue (Challenging): HAMMER, HANGER, LEVEL, NAIL
Purple (Hardest): BALL, HILLS, LOCKER, PRINT
Puzzle designer Wyna Liu developed Connections for the NY Times, part of the NYT Games family, in 2023. Today's Connections puzzle links diverse words from semantic similarities (e.g., something rhythmic being a type of movement) to practical associations, like tools for hanging pictures; to word-completions of sorts (e.g., FOOT associated expressions). The gradual increase in difficulty therefore tests various aspects- vocabulary, general knowledge, and pattern recognition. Let the clues assist with the game without ruining the satisfaction provided by working out the connections by yourself.