The Saturday edition of NYT Connections arrives with puzzle #1133, serving up a grid that rewards court awareness, abstract thinking, game-screen literacy, and a sharp eye for familiar word pairings.
What Makes Connections Tick
For newcomers, NYT Connections presents 16 words that must be sorted into four thematic groups of four. The twist? You're limited to four mistakes, and the color-coded difficulty system (yellow being easiest, purple being trickiest) means surface-level connections often mislead.
Since its June 2023 launch, Connections has carved out its niche in the Times' puzzle ecosystem, standing alongside Wordle and the crossword as a daily ritual for millions of players worldwide. The game's genius lies in its red herrings, words that could fit multiple categories but belong in only one.
Today's Grid at a Glance
Here are the 16 words staring back at you in puzzle #1133:
TRAVEL | FLY | QUIZ | SCORE
OPINION | CARRY | HEALTH | TART
CULTURE | MIND | TIME | GOALTEND
VIEW | LIVES | DOUBLE DRIBBLE | ATTITUDE
A seemingly random collection that somehow connects into four perfect categories.
Strategic Hints (No Spoilers Yet)
Yellow Category Nudge: Think about actions that make a referee stop play and hand possession to the other team.
Green Category Clue: Look for terms that can describe what someone thinks or holds to be true.
Blue Category Hint: Picture the counters and meters that players monitor while a game is running.
Purple Category Teaser: A short, punchy word can sit before each answer to create four familiar expressions.
The Full Solutions
Last chance to solve independently: answers below
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Yellow (Commit A Basketball Violation): CARRY, DOUBLE DRIBBLE, GOALTEND, TRAVEL
CARRY, DOUBLE DRIBBLE, GOALTEND, and TRAVEL are all ways to commit a basketball violation.
SCORE is the strongest red herring because it also belongs naturally on a basketball court, but here it is reserved for the video game group.
Green (Belief): ATTITUDE, MIND, OPINION, VIEW
ATTITUDE, MIND, OPINION, and VIEW can each refer to a person's belief or way of thinking.
The group is built from close synonyms, so the challenge is recognizing that ATTITUDE belongs beside the more immediately interchangeable MIND, OPINION, and VIEW.
Blue (Things Tracked In Video Games): HEALTH, LIVES, SCORE, TIME
HEALTH, LIVES, SCORE, and TIME are all quantities commonly tracked in video games.
SCORE pulls toward basketball, while TIME is broad enough to fit sports and everyday scheduling, which gives this set its camouflage.
Purple (Words After "pop"): CULTURE, FLY, QUIZ, TART
CULTURE, FLY, QUIZ, and TART all follow POP, producing pop culture, pop fly, pop quiz, and Pop-Tart.
The trick works because the resulting phrases span entertainment, baseball, testing, and food, leaving little shared meaning until the missing opener is supplied.
The Verdict
The basketball violations should fall first, with DOUBLE DRIBBLE and GOALTEND providing the clearest anchors.
The real trap sits around SCORE, which belongs with HEALTH, LIVES, and TIME despite its obvious basketball connection.
The POP constructions are the streak-deciding group because their four completed expressions occupy completely different subjects.
Reset and Repeat
Tomorrow brings another clean grid and another chance to reset, but today's standout is the POP trick that turns four unrelated words into instantly recognizable expressions.
For now, puzzle #1133 is solved. See you at midnight for the next round.
