The Wednesday edition of NYT Connections arrives with puzzle #927, serving up a grid that rewards culinary knowledge, financial slang, and musical wordplay. Today's challenge particularly favors food enthusiasts and those who can spot sneaky homophones hiding in plain sight.
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 #927:
SINGE | MUNCH | PAPER | POLLOCK
BACON | CHAMP | CHAR | WHISTLER
BITE | TANG | RAPT | CHEESE
HUMP | BREAD | SOLE | CHEW
A seemingly random collection that somehow connects into four perfect categories.
Strategic Hints (No Spoilers Yet)
Yellow Category Nudge: Think about slang terms for currency that might appear in casual conversation or hip-hop lyrics.
Green Category Clue: These are all actions you perform with your mouth, specifically related to eating.
Blue Category Hint: Look to the sea for this category - specifically, creatures that swim in it.
Purple Category Teaser: This one requires musical knowledge and a keen ear for homophones - think about how you might describe vocal performances.
The Full Solutions
Last chance to solve independently: answers below
Yellow (Slang for Money): BACON, BREAD, CHEESE, PAPER
These four words all serve as informal slang terms for money in various contexts. "Bacon" comes from the phrase "bring home the bacon," while "bread" and "cheese" are straightforward food-to-money metaphors.
"Paper" refers to paper money, completing a quartet of financial slang that's particularly accessible to anyone familiar with casual English idioms or pop culture references.
Green (Masticate): BITE, CHAMP, CHEW, MUNCH
This category collects four verbs describing the act of chewing or biting. "Bite" is the most straightforward, while "champ" (to bite or chew noisily) and "munch" (to chew steadily) add variety.
"Chew" serves as the central concept, making this the most literal and accessible grouping in today's puzzle - perfect for the green category's medium-easy designation.
Blue (Fish): CHAR, POLLOCK, SOLE, TANG
Here we have four types of fish, though not all are equally common in everyday vocabulary. "Char" refers to several species of freshwater fish, while "pollock" and "sole" are familiar to seafood enthusiasts.
"Tang" might be the trickiest - it's a type of surgeonfish found in tropical waters. This category separates those with culinary or marine knowledge from casual solvers.
Purple (Ways to Vocalize Musically Plus a Letter): HUMP, RAPT, SINGE, WHISTLER
This is the puzzle's cleverest trick: each word becomes a musical vocalization when you add the letter "S" to the beginning. "Hump" becomes "SHUMP" (a nonsense vocalization), "rapt" becomes "SRAPT" (another nonsense sound), "singe" becomes "SSINGE" (a sizzling sound), and "whistler" becomes "SWHISTLER" (a whistling sound).
The category requires recognizing that these aren't about the words themselves but about what they become with a single letter addition - a classic purple-level misdirection.
The Verdict
Puzzle #927 registers as moderate difficulty with a sting in the tail. Yellow falls quickly for anyone who recognizes slang clusters, while green requires thinking about eating actions.
Blue separates the seafood enthusiasts from the casual observers. Purple, predictably, is the streak-ender - that musical homophone trick won't reveal itself without serious lateral thinking.
The real trap lies in words like "singe" and "whistler" that could easily mislead solvers toward fire-related or artist-related categories. "Singe" might suggest burning, while "Whistler" could point toward famous artists (James McNeill Whistler) or the whistling sound itself.
These red herrings are precisely what makes the purple category so devilishly clever.
Reset and Repeat
Tomorrow's puzzle drops at midnight in your timezone. Until then, reflect on today's performance: did you spot the fish quartet immediately, or did "tang" throw you off?
Did the money slang come naturally, or did you overthink "paper"? The beauty lies not in perfection but in training your brain to spot these hidden patterns.
For now, puzzle #927 is solved. See you at midnight for round #928.
