The Tuesday edition of NYT Connections arrives with puzzle #926, serving up a grid that rewards pop culture knowledge and psychological insight. Today's challenge particularly favors film buffs, psychology enthusiasts, and those who can spot sneaky wordplay connections.
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 #926:
DRACULA | DOGMA | UNCONSCIOUS | KRYPTONITE
FRANKENSTEIN | FIXATION | ACHILLES' HEEL | SUPERMAN
OEDIPUS COMPLEX | SOFT SPOT | LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD | LINKLATER
DOWNFALL | DARTH VADER | BRATZ | SUPEREGO
A seemingly random collection that somehow connects into four perfect categories, spanning from classic monsters to psychological concepts.
Strategic Hints (No Spoilers Yet)
Yellow Category Nudge: Think about vulnerabilities and weaknesses - both physical and metaphorical.
Green Category Clue: These terms all come from the world of psychology and psychoanalysis.
Blue Category Hint: Look for characters who wear distinctive capes or hoods in their iconic appearances.
Purple Category Teaser: This category requires thinking about what comes after a particular slang term for sausage.
The Full Solutions
Last chance to solve independently: answers below
Yellow (Vulnerability): ACHILLES' HEEL, DOWNFALL, KRYPTONITE, SOFT SPOT
These four words represent different types of vulnerabilities. Achilles' heel refers to a fatal weakness from Greek mythology, kryptonite is Superman's specific weakness, downfall means a sudden loss of power or status, and soft spot describes an emotional vulnerability.
The connection is straightforward once you recognize they're all about points of weakness, though "soft spot" could potentially mislead solvers into thinking about physical rather than metaphorical vulnerabilities.
Green (Freudian Concepts): FIXATION, OEDIPUS COMPLEX, SUPEREGO, UNCONSCIOUS
All four terms originate from Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory. Fixation describes arrested development at a psychosexual stage, the Oedipus complex involves unconscious sexual desire for the opposite-sex parent, superego represents the moral conscience, and unconscious refers to mental processes not directly accessible to awareness.
This category requires specific psychological knowledge, though "unconscious" could mislead as a medical term rather than a Freudian concept.
Blue (Characters in Capes): DARTH VADER, DRACULA, LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD, SUPERMAN
These characters are all famously associated with capes or hoods in their iconic appearances. Darth Vader wears a flowing black cape, Dracula is typically depicted with a cape in vampire lore, Little Red Riding Hood wears her namesake red hood, and Superman's cape is integral to his superhero identity.
The category cleverly mixes characters from different genres - science fiction, horror, fairy tales, and superhero comics.
Purple (Starting With Slang for Sausage): BRATZ, DOGMA, FRANKENSTEIN, LINKLATER
This is the puzzle's trickiest category, requiring lateral thinking about word beginnings. Each word starts with "brat," "dog," "frank," or "link" - all slang terms for sausage (bratwurst, hot dog, frankfurter, link).
Bratz refers to the doll brand, dogma means a principle or belief, Frankenstein is the classic monster novel, and Linklater is director Richard Linklater. This category punishes solvers who don't make the sausage connection, as these words otherwise seem completely unrelated.
The Verdict
Puzzle #926 registers as moderate difficulty with a significant sting in the tail. Yellow falls quickly for anyone who recognizes vulnerability synonyms, while green requires specific psychological knowledge that separates Freud enthusiasts from casual observers.
Blue offers a satisfying pop culture connection that's accessible to most solvers, mixing characters across genres in a clever thematic grouping.
The real trap lies in the purple category's sausage wordplay - without recognizing that "brat," "dog," "frank," and "link" are all sausage terms, these four words appear completely disconnected. Additionally, "unconscious" in the green category could mislead medical professionals, and "soft spot" in yellow might distract those thinking about physical rather than emotional vulnerabilities.
Reset and Repeat
Tomorrow's puzzle drops at midnight in your timezone. Until then, reflect on today's performance: did the Freudian concepts trip you up, or did you spot the sausage connection immediately?
The beauty lies not in perfection but in training your brain to spot these hidden patterns, whether they're psychological terms, caped characters, or culinary wordplay.
For now, puzzle #926 is solved. See you at midnight for round #927.
