The Tuesday edition of NYT Connections delivers puzzle #919, a well-balanced grid that rewards both pop culture knowledge and lateral thinking. Today's challenge particularly favors film buffs and those with a keen ear for linguistic patterns.
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 #919:
POSTERITY | BELLHOP | LIFEBOAT | OFFSPRING
SPELLBOUND | FOXTROT | RATTLESNAKE | MAMBO
CHIMERA | ROPE | BOLERO | DRUMROLL
BROOD | QUICKSTEP | FAMILY | SUSPICION
A seemingly random collection that somehow connects into four perfect categories.
Strategic Hints (No Spoilers Yet)
Yellow Category Nudge: Think ballroom floor. These moves have rhythm and formal names.
Green Category Clue: Family tree terminology. Words describing those who come after you.
Blue Category Hint: The Master of Suspense. A legendary director's filmography from the 1940s.
Purple Category Teaser: Listen to the first syllable. What instruments might you hear?
The Full Solutions
Last chance to solve independently: answers below
Yellow (Dances): BOLERO, FOXTROT, MAMBO, QUICKSTEP
The ballroom dancers likely caught this immediately. These are classic partner dances spanning Latin and standard styles. BOLERO might've been the trickiest, being less commonly danced than the others.
Green (Descendants): BROOD, FAMILY, OFFSPRING, POSTERITY
Vocabulary-focused and straightforward once identified. Each word refers to one's descendants or progeny. POSTERITY carries the most formal tone, while BROOD has that slightly archaic edge.
Blue (Hitchcock Movies): LIFEBOAT, ROPE, SPELLBOUND, SUSPICION
Here's where film knowledge pays dividends. All four are Alfred Hitchcock classics from the 1940s. Lifeboat (1944), Spellbound (1945), Suspicion (1941), and Rope (1948) represent the master director's wartime and post-war output. ROPE especially stands out as an experimental single-set thriller.
Purple (Starting with Percussion Instruments): BELLHOP, CHIMERA, DRUMROLL, RATTLESNAKE
Today's purple category earns its difficulty rating through pure linguistic trickery. Each word begins with a percussion instrument: BELL-hop, CHIME-ra, DRUM-roll, RATTLE-snake. The kind of pattern that's invisible until suddenly it's the only thing you can see. Clever, frustrating, and quintessentially purple.
The Verdict
Puzzle #919 registers as moderate-to-challenging. Yellow falls quickly for anyone familiar with dance styles, while green requires solid vocabulary. Blue creates a divide between Hitchcock enthusiasts (easy) and everyone else (head-scratching). Purple, as always, is the streak-killer, that percussion pattern requires a specific type of lateral thinking.
The real trap today? ROPE wanting to group with other short words, or DRUMROLL seeming like it belongs in a "build-up" category. Classic Connections misdirection.
Reset and Repeat
Tomorrow's puzzle drops at midnight in your timezone. Until then, reflect on today's performance: Did the Hitchcock category come naturally, or did purple's percussion pattern claim another victim? The beauty lies not in perfection but in training your brain to spot these hidden patterns.
For now, puzzle #919 is solved. See you at midnight for round #920.
