The Thursday edition of NYT Connections arrives with puzzle #928, serving up a grid that rewards linguistic precision and musical knowledge. Today's challenge particularly favors wordsmiths who can spot ornate prose and those who recognize the hidden solfege patterns lurking in everyday words.
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 #928:
LAREDO | MUSICAL NOTE | MAKE UP | PURPLE
WINE GLASS | SOLTI | FLOWERY | FLOWER
RETIRE | COIN | CHERRY | HATCH
EXCESSIVE | FASHION | MIRE | MELODRAMATIC
A seemingly random collection that somehow connects into four perfect categories.
Strategic Hints (No Spoilers Yet)
Yellow Category Nudge: Think about overly descriptive writing styles.
Green Category Clue: All these words can follow "to" when describing creative actions.
Blue Category Hint: Consider what these items have in common physically or metaphorically.
Purple Category Teaser: Listen closely to how these words sound when spoken aloud.
The Full Solutions
Last chance to solve independently: answers below
Blue (Things With Stems): CHERRY, FLOWER, MUSICAL NOTE, WINE GLASS
This category connects items that literally or metaphorically have stems. Cherries and flowers have botanical stems, musical notes have note stems in sheet music, and wine glasses have stems as part of their physical structure.
The clever twist here is the musical note - while it doesn't have a physical stem like the others, its representation in musical notation includes a stem, making this a perfect example of Connections' love for bridging literal and figurative interpretations.
Green (Create): COIN, FASHION, HATCH, MAKE UP
All four words can follow "to" to form phrases meaning "to create" or "to invent." You can coin a phrase, fashion something from materials, hatch a plan, and make up a story. This category rewards players who think about verbs and their creative applications rather than getting distracted by the noun forms of these words.
Yellow (Ornate, As Prose): EXCESSIVE, FLOWERY, MELODRAMATIC, PURPLE
These words all describe overly elaborate or ornate writing styles. "Purple prose" is a specific literary term for writing that is excessively ornate, flowery language is similarly elaborate, excessive speaks for itself, and melodramatic writing is overly emotional and theatrical.
This category will click instantly for literature enthusiasts but might trap players who only see "purple" as a color.
Purple (Comprised of Solfege (DO-RE-MI)): LAREDO, MIRE, RETIRE, SOLTI
This is the puzzle's cleverest trick - each word contains syllables that correspond to solfege notes. LAREDO contains "re" and "do," MIRE contains "mi" and "re," RETIRE contains "re" and "ti," and SOLTI contains "sol" and "ti." The inclusion of "SOLTI" (referencing conductor Georg Solti) is particularly devious, as it looks like a proper name but fits the pattern perfectly.
This category separates musical insiders from casual solvers.
The Verdict
Puzzle #928 registers as moderate difficulty with a sting in the tail. Yellow falls quickly for anyone who recognizes synonym clusters, while green requires thinking about your evening routine.
Blue separates the civics buffs from the casual observers. Purple, predictably, is the streak-ender, that nautical homophone trick won't reveal itself without serious lateral thinking.
The real trap lies in "PURPLE" - it could easily be mistaken for a color category with "CHERRY" and "FLOWER," while "MUSICAL NOTE" and "SOLTI" create a false music category. "MAKE UP" and "FASHION" might suggest cosmetics, and "RETIRE" and "HATCH" could point toward endings or beginnings.
These surface-level connections are exactly what makes today's puzzle both frustrating and satisfying to solve.
Reset and Repeat
Tomorrow's puzzle drops at midnight in your timezone. Until then, reflect on today's performance: did you spot the solfege pattern immediately, or did "PURPLE" lead you down the wrong path?
The beauty lies not in perfection but in training your brain to spot these hidden patterns.
For now, puzzle #928 is solved. See you at midnight for round #929.
