The Wednesday edition of NYT Connections arrives with puzzle #1137, serving up a grid that rewards quick shifts between physical reactions, scorekeeping, digital culture, and animal observation.
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 #1137:
WHITE STRIPES | HOLE | PINS | STROKES
HIVES | HOOVES | VINES | SCORE
SNAPS | RASH | MANE | TWEETS
PAR | REDNESS | TAIL | ITCHING
A seemingly random collection that somehow connects into four perfect categories.
Strategic Hints (No Spoilers Yet)
Yellow Category Nudge: Focus on visible ways the body can respond after encountering something it cannot tolerate.
Green Category Clue: Picture the information recorded while a player moves through an outdoor course.
Blue Category Hint: Think about the special names different social platforms have given individual pieces of content.
Purple Category Teaser: Picture a familiar striped animal, then inventory the visible details from one end to the other.
The Full Solutions
Last chance to solve independently: answers below
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Yellow (Symptoms Of An Allergic Reaction): HIVES, ITCHING, RASH, REDNESS
HIVES, ITCHING, RASH, and REDNESS are all symptoms of an allergic reaction.
HIVES and VINES create a neat visual distraction through their plural forms and near-rhyme, but only HIVES belongs with the bodily symptoms.
Green (On A Golf Scorecard): HOLE, PAR, SCORE, STROKES
HOLE, PAR, SCORE, and STROKES are entries found on a golf scorecard.
PINS tempts a golf connection because a pin marks the hole, while STROKES also blends into the grid's cluster of plural nouns and action words.
Blue (Platform-Specific Posts): PINS, SNAPS, TWEETS, VINES
PINS, SNAPS, TWEETS, and VINES are platform-specific names for posts associated with Pinterest, Snapchat, Twitter, and Vine.
PINS supplies the strongest red herring because it sounds at home beside HOLE and PAR, while VINES echoes HIVES closely enough to encourage a false pair.
Purple (Features Of A Zebra): HOOVES, MANE, TAIL, WHITE STRIPES
HOOVES, MANE, TAIL, and WHITE STRIPES are all features of a zebra.
The trick is misdirection rather than wordplay. HOOVES, MANE, and TAIL initially suggest a generic horse, but WHITE STRIPES identifies the intended animal.
The Verdict
Yellow should fall first because HIVES, ITCHING, RASH, and REDNESS form the grid's tightest everyday association.
The real trap sits between green and blue, with PINS pulling toward HOLE and PAR before the platform vocabulary becomes clear.
Purple is the streak-decider because HOOVES, MANE, and TAIL remain broadly equine until WHITE STRIPES resolves the zebra connection.
Reset and Repeat
The best trick today is PINS masquerading as golf vocabulary, a clean reminder to test every tempting fifth word. Reset the grid instincts and come back tomorrow for another round.
For now, puzzle #1137 is solved. See you at midnight for the next round.
