The Monday edition of NYT Connections arrives with puzzle #918, delivering a moderately challenging grid that separates casual players from seasoned connectors. This iteration leans heavily on sports terminology and linguistic sleight of hand, particularly in that notorious purple category.
You can also set us as a preferred source in Google Search/News by clicking the button.
What Makes Connections Tick
For the uninitiated, NYT Connections presents a deceptively simple premise: sort 16 seemingly random words into four thematic groups of four. The catch? You get exactly four mistakes before the game ends, and the color-coded difficulty progression from yellow (straightforward) to purple (devious) means the obvious answers aren't always the correct ones.
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 #918:
FINAL | BUMPER | QUALIFIER | GIANT
QUARTER | MONSTER | SEMI | TITANIC
DIVE | CELSIUS | DUMP | COLD
HOLE | ONE HUNDRED | JOINT | SEE
At first glance, chaos. With a bit of pattern recognition? Four distinct categories waiting to reveal themselves.
Strategic Hints (No Spoilers Yet)
Yellow Category Nudge: Think tournament progression. From the opening rounds to the championship moment, what stages get you there?
Green Category Clue: Synonyms for "massive." Words you'd use when "big" just doesn't cut it.
Blue Category Hint: Establishments with questionable reputations. Places your mother warned you about.
Purple Category Teaser: Single-letter thinking. What does "C" represent in different contexts?
The Full Solutions
Last chance to solve independently: answers below
Yellow (Tournament Rounds): FINAL, QUALIFIER, QUARTER, SEMI
The sports enthusiasts likely spotted this first. These are the classic stages of any bracket-style competition, from tennis Grand Slams to March Madness.
Green (Enormous): BUMPER, GIANT, MONSTER, TITANIC
Straightforward once you see it. Each word describes something exceptionally large, though BUMPER might've thrown some players initially, given its more obscure usage as "exceptionally large or successful."
Blue (Disreputable Establishment): DIVE, DUMP, HOLE, JOINT
Slang terms for questionable bars and venues. Your neighborhood dive bar gets its name from somewhere, after all. These are establishments where the floor's always a bit sticky and the lighting's intentionally dim.
Purple (What "C" Might Mean): CELSIUS, COLD, ONE HUNDRED, SEE
Here's where today's puzzle earns its difficulty rating. Each word represents a different interpretation of the letter "C": the temperature scale, a cardinal direction (as in faucets), the Roman numeral 100, and the homophone "see" (C). Clever, frustrating, and quintessentially purple.
The Verdict
Puzzle #918 clocks in at moderate difficulty. Yellow and green categories fall quickly for most players, while blue requires a bit of colloquial vocabulary awareness. Purple, predictably, is where streaks go to die, the homophone trick with SEE and the Roman numeral connection aren't immediately obvious unless you're specifically hunting for letter-based wordplay.
The real trap today? QUARTER appearing in the yellow category when your brain desperately wants to associate it with money or the blue category's slang terms. That's the Connections magic: forcing you to choose between multiple valid associations.
Reset and Repeat
Tomorrow's puzzle drops at midnight in your local timezone. Until then, consider today's performance: Did you crack it in one go, or did purple claim another victim? The beauty of daily puzzles lies not in perfection but in the pattern recognition muscles they build over time.
For now, puzzle #918 is in the books. See you at midnight for round #919.
You can also set us as a preferred source in Google Search/News by clicking the button.
