The Sunday edition of NYT Connections arrives with puzzle #952, serving up a grid that rewards literary knowledge, vocabulary precision, and classic Hollywood recognition. Today's challenge particularly favors book lovers and film buffs who can spot the subtle connections between seemingly unrelated terms.
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 #952:
QUOTE | PECK | PRICE | TOTAL
DAMAGE | TITLE | BILL | GRANT
AUTHOR | WINGS | COOPER | BREAK
WEBBING | WRECK | SYNOPSIS | FEATHERS
A seemingly random collection that somehow connects into four perfect categories.
Strategic Hints (No Spoilers Yet)
Yellow Category Nudge: Think about what makes a duck distinctive - both physically and functionally.
Green Category Clue: These are all ways things can be rendered non-functional or severely impaired.
Blue Category Hint: Look for elements you'd typically find when evaluating or describing a book.
Purple Category Teaser: These surnames belong to legendary figures from Hollywood's golden age.
The Full Solutions
Last chance to solve independently: answers below
---
---
---
---
---
Yellow (Features of a Duck): BILL, FEATHERS, WEBBING, WINGS
The easiest category connects four distinctive anatomical features of ducks.
BILL refers to the duck's beak, FEATHERS and WINGS are obvious, while WEBBING specifically describes the connective tissue between a duck's toes that aids in swimming.
Green (Destroy): BREAK, DAMAGE, TOTAL, WRECK
This medium-easy category groups four verbs that describe causing destruction or severe impairment.
TOTAL works as a verb meaning "to completely destroy," while BREAK, DAMAGE, and WRECK all describe varying degrees of destruction.
Blue (Found on a Book Jacket): AUTHOR, QUOTE, SYNOPSIS, TITLE
This medium-hard category collects elements commonly found on book covers or promotional materials.
AUTHOR and TITLE are obvious, SYNOPSIS provides the summary, and QUOTE typically refers to praise or review excerpts featured on the jacket.
Purple (Classic Hollywood Actors): COOPER, GRANT, PECK, PRICE
The trickiest category requires recognizing four legendary Hollywood actors by their surnames alone.
Gary COOPER, Cary GRANT, Gregory PECK, and Vincent PRICE represent iconic figures from Hollywood's golden era, with Price particularly known for horror roles while the others spanned multiple genres.
The Verdict
Puzzle #952 registers as moderate difficulty with a clever Hollywood twist.
Yellow falls quickly for anyone who recognizes duck anatomy, while green requires thinking about destruction verbs in their various forms.
Blue separates the literary enthusiasts from casual readers, demanding recognition of book jacket elements.
Purple, predictably, is the streak-ender - the actor surnames won't reveal themselves without serious film history knowledge.
The real trap lies in words like PRICE and GRANT, which could easily be mistaken for financial terms rather than actor names.
Similarly, BILL might initially seem like a financial document rather than a duck's beak, creating effective misdirection across multiple categories.
Reset and Repeat
Tomorrow's puzzle drops at midnight in your timezone.
Until then, reflect on today's performance: did you spot the Hollywood legends or get tripped up by the duck anatomy?
The beauty lies not in perfection but in training your brain to spot these hidden patterns.
For now, puzzle #952 is solved.
See you at midnight for round #953.
