The Tuesday edition of NYT Connections arrives with puzzle #961, serving up a grid that rewards pop culture knowledge and sports savvy. Today's challenge particularly favors comic book enthusiasts and hockey fans 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 #961:
BATMOBILE | FRIAR | CARD | ROBIN
JOKER | BASEMENT | PENGUIN | CHARACTER
SHERIFF | DEVIL | CAPSTONE | FLYER
RANGER | MAID | BALLROOM | CUTUP
A seemingly random collection that somehow connects into four perfect categories.
Strategic Hints (No Spoilers Yet)
Yellow Category Nudge: Think about people or things that make you laugh.
Green Category Clue: Look for team names from the ice rink.
Blue Category Hint: These characters share a legendary forest home.
Purple Category Teaser: Each word begins with something you'd find in a baseball player's equipment bag.
The Full Solutions
Last chance to solve independently: answers below
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Yellow (Quite the Laugh): CARD, CHARACTER, CUTUP, JOKER
These four words all describe people or things associated with humor and entertainment. A "joker" is a comedian, a "cutup" is someone who makes jokes, a "character" can be a funny person, and a "card" is slang for an amusing individual.
Green (NHL Team Member): DEVIL, FLYER, PENGUIN, RANGER
Each word represents the nickname of an NHL hockey team. The New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and New York Rangers all have these distinctive team names.
Blue (First Words of Robin Hood Character Names): FRIAR, MAID, ROBIN, SHERIFF
These are the first words of famous characters from the Robin Hood legend. Friar Tuck, Maid Marian, Robin Hood himself, and the Sheriff of Nottingham complete the Sherwood Forest ensemble.
Purple (Starting With Baseball Gear): BALLROOM, BASEMENT, BATMOBILE, CAPSTONE
Each word begins with a piece of baseball equipment: ball, base, bat, and cap. This clever wordplay category requires recognizing the baseball terms that form the first syllables of otherwise unrelated words.
The Verdict
Puzzle #961 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 sports knowledge.
Blue separates the literature buffs from the casual observers. Purple, predictably, is the streak-ender, that baseball equipment trick won't reveal itself without serious lateral thinking.
The real trap here is "BATMOBILE," which could easily mislead players into thinking about Batman characters rather than the "bat" baseball connection. Similarly, "ROBIN" might pull solvers toward bird-related categories or Batman sidekicks instead of the Robin Hood connection.
Reset and Repeat
Tomorrow's puzzle drops at midnight in your timezone. Until then, reflect on today's performance: did you spot the baseball equipment pattern, or did the NHL teams trip you up?
The beauty lies not in perfection but in training your brain to spot these hidden patterns.
For now, puzzle #961 is solved. See you at midnight for round #962.
