Solve your own way
“I saw the Instagram video of all the Games editors picking between two things, and some of them I didn’t understand! What does shuffle or not shuffle mean? Or Yellow first or Purple first? Please explain!” — Megan From Christina: The Games team has been making some videos for our Instagram account, including a fun one where the Games editors have to make some tough choices, deciding between two options in a prompt. The six editors, standing in a line, were told to step to one side of the aisle or the other, depending on their answer to a question. With the question “Pen or pencil?” every editor but me stepped to the “pen” side, while I wondered if I had misunderstood the question. Why solve in pen when pencil is an option!? I’m a pencil solver through and through. The two questions Megan refers to here are about Connections. In Connections, solvers see a board of 16 words or short phrases, and must sort them into four categories of four items. At the bottom of the board is a “shuffle” button, and solvers can decide whether they want to mix up the board and see the words in a different order. Wyna Liu, who creates Connections, will occasionally put certain cards next to each other to trick us. For instance, say that BAR is in a category with DIVE and PUB and TAPROOM. Putting BAR in the top row next to CANDY might be a little misdirect that would make you think about candy bars instead of a drinking establishment. Some solvers prefer to immediately shuffle the board so that they don’t fall for any of these tricks. Other solvers might use the shuffle button just to see if looking at the words in a different order helps them see categories they otherwise might have missed. As far as the colors go, Connections categories are ranked in rainbow order from yellow to purple, with the more straightforward category typically being yellow, and the trickiest category being purple. It’s not strictly true that these categories will be the easiest or hardest for any given person. We all have different wheelhouses, and what might leap out as obvious to one solver might be a complete mystery to another. Generally, though, the yellow and green categories will be either a list of synonyms or a list of items that have a strong association with each other. The blue category is often a bit more trivia-based than the others. The purple category tends to have less to do with the meaning of the word and more to do with the letters in the word itself. Some solvers challenge themselves to solve the purple category first. The editors had fun making the video, and it gave us a lot to talk about afterward! People all have their own ways to enjoy puzzles, and it’s always fun to hear how people interact with our games in different ways.
Solve Friday’s Crossword on Easy Mode!
In today’s Wordplay column, Deb Amlen writes about what makes a puzzle crunchy. For expert hints on today’s puzzle, read her column here. Were you able to solve the Friday puzzle with Easy Mode? We want your input! Share your experience with us on the X platform, on Threads or by email. A Quick Cool-DownHow fast can you solve today’s Mini?
Get a ClueMy favorite clue from last week is 17-Down from Saturday, Aug. 9. This is a cute example of disguising a capitalized word by using it as the first word, so it’s not obvious that it’s a proper noun. 17-Down: Apple skins?
How are we doing? Thanks for playing! Subscribe to New York Times Games. If you were forwarded this newsletter, you can sign up to receive it regularly here. P.S. The answer to Get a Clue is IPHONE CASES.
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