The Friday edition of NYT Connections arrives with puzzle #1146, serving up a grid that rewards flexible verbs, video game familiarity, fruit spotting, and a sharp eye for hidden openings.
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 #1146:
MOLD | SPEAR | DAPPLE | PRINCESS
MUSHROOM | JOYSTICK | SLIME | FUNGUS
CHEERIOS | DINOSAUR | FASHION | MODEL
GLEEK | SHAPE | PLUMBER | JDATE
A seemingly random collection that somehow connects into four perfect categories.
Strategic Hints (No Spoilers Yet)
Yellow Category Nudge: Think about verbs for making something take a particular form.
Green Category Clue: Picture the recurring cast and character types of a famous platform game series.
Blue Category Hint: Look for familiar produce concealed behind one extra opening letter.
Purple Category Teaser: Read the beginnings as short expressions of happiness, then treat the remaining letters as camouflage.
The Full Solutions
Last chance to solve independently: answers below
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Yellow (Construct): FASHION, MODEL, MOLD, SHAPE
FASHION, MODEL, MOLD, and SHAPE can all mean to construct or form something.
MOLD creates a convincing biological detour toward FUNGUS and MUSHROOM, while FASHION and MODEL form an especially natural pair inside the correct set.
Green (Super Mario Figures): DINOSAUR, MUSHROOM, PLUMBER, PRINCESS
DINOSAUR, MUSHROOM, PLUMBER, and PRINCESS are familiar Super Mario figures or character types, evoking Yoshi, Toad, Mario and Luigi, and Peach or Daisy.
MUSHROOM is the dangerous overlap here because it sits naturally beside FUNGUS and even brushes against MOLD.
Blue (Fruits Plus Starting Letter): DAPPLE, JDATE, SLIME, SPEAR
Each entry is a fruit with one starting letter attached: DAPPLE is D plus APPLE, JDATE is J plus DATE, SLIME is S plus LIME, and SPEAR is S plus PEAR.
The awkward-looking DAPPLE and JDATE expose the construction most clearly once the initial letters are removed.
Purple (Starting With Merriments): CHEERIOS, FUNGUS, GLEEK, JOYSTICK
CHEERIOS, FUNGUS, GLEEK, and JOYSTICK begin with CHEER, FUN, GLEE, and JOY, four expressions or states of merriment.
The trick splits them as CHEER + IOS, FUN + GUS, GLEE + K, and JOY + STICK, with the leftover letters serving only to disguise the upbeat openings.
The Verdict
The construction verbs should fall first, especially with FASHION, MODEL, MOLD, and SHAPE reinforcing one another cleanly.
The real trap is the earthy trio of MOLD, MUSHROOM, and FUNGUS, which tempts a plausible but incorrect biological grouping.
The fruit set is the streak decider because JDATE and DAPPLE only become orderly after their first letters are peeled away.
Reset and Repeat
Tomorrow brings a fresh grid and another reset, but today's neatest lesson is worth keeping: when several entries look slightly misshapen, test whether a familiar word is hiding just past the first letter.
For now, puzzle #1146 is solved. See you at midnight for the next round.
