The Tuesday edition of NYT Connections arrives with puzzle #1213, serving up a grid that rewards brand recognition, an eye for interiors, and close reading. Familiar-looking terms invite quick guesses, but their surface meanings do not tell the whole story.
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 #1213:
ADIRONDACK | KNICKKNACK | CATSKILL | HOLIDAY
COMFORT | BERKSHIRE | STABILITY | HAMPTON
WINDSOR | MERRILL | WINGBACK | DAYS
CITI | PIANOFORTE | EAMES | GOLDMAN
A seemingly random collection that somehow connects into four perfect categories.
Strategic Hints (No Spoilers Yet)
Yellow Category Nudge: Think about names you encounter in the business pages.
Green Category Clue: Picture browsing a furniture showroom.
Blue Category Hint: Bring your travel-planning vocabulary into play.
Purple Category Teaser: Read closely, because a useful connection hides within the spelling.
The Full Solutions
Last chance to solve independently: answers below
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Yellow (Financial Firms, For Short): BERKSHIRE, CITI, GOLDMAN, MERRILL
BERKSHIRE, CITI, GOLDMAN, and MERRILL belong together as financial firms named in shortened form. Recognizing the business names gives this group a clean organizing principle.
Green (Kinds Of Chairs): ADIRONDACK, EAMES, WINDSOR, WINGBACK
ADIRONDACK, EAMES, WINDSOR, and WINGBACK are the chair names. COMFORT makes a tempting addition because it describes something you want from a seat, but that association does not make it another chair type.
Blue (___ Inn Hotels): COMFORT, DAYS, HAMPTON, HOLIDAY
COMFORT, DAYS, HAMPTON, and HOLIDAY each pair with INN to form a hotel name: Comfort Inn, Days Inn, Hampton Inn, and Holiday Inn. The shared second word locks the group together.
Purple (Ending In Talents): CATSKILL, KNICKKNACK, PIANOFORTE, STABILITY
CATSKILL ends in SKILL, KNICKKNACK in KNACK, PIANOFORTE in FORTE, and STABILITY in ABILITY. Each ending names a talent or aptitude, so the connection emerges when you read the final letters separately from the whole word.
The Verdict
Yellow is a strong first foothold if the financial names ring a bell, and blue becomes decisive once INN clicks. The clearest trap sits around green: COMFORT and STABILITY both suggest desirable qualities in furniture, inviting a loose association instead of the precise chair-name match.
Purple is the streak-deciding group because it asks you to abandon whole-word meanings. Spotting SKILL inside CATSKILL gives you a concrete pattern to test against KNICKKNACK, PIANOFORTE, and STABILITY.
Reset and Repeat
Carry today's hidden-ending trick into tomorrow's grid: when the meanings refuse to cooperate, inspect the spelling. Come back for another fresh set of connections and another chance to catch the detail that makes everything click.
For now, puzzle #1213 is solved. See you at midnight for the next round.
