This Was the Toughest Connections Puzzle Ever. Did You Beat It?

I love Connections, and I hate Connections. This NYT puzzle makes me feel smart when I solve it, and like a complete bozo when I blow it. (If you’re down to your last chance and need some help, I post daily answers for Connections as well as NYT’s Wordle, Strands, Connections: Sports Edition and Mini Crossword puzzles.)

Connections was released in beta in June 2023, and it soon became the second-most-played game The New York Times has, behind only the mighty, lasting Wordle. Connections gives you 16 words, and you have to fit them into four groups of four categories. It always throws you plenty of red herrings, though. One word might fit into multiple possible categories, but there’s only one solution that allows every word to find a group.

Using Google search data for “Connections hint” from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2024, online word-game tool Word Unscrambler  (guess what it does!) has identified the hardest puzzle. And the ultimate, toughest, brain-bustingest Connections puzzle ever? May 12, 2024. The unsolved puzzle appears at the top of this story, and the answers are below.

I can see why it’s a tough one. There are a LOT of three-letter words, four of which are classed together as acronyms and two of which fit in another category altogether.

And there are a number of words that could go into an animal category (Kid! Mule!) but that the game places in other categories.

As you can see, the categories are Playfully Poke Fun At (KID, NEEDLE, RIB, TEASE), Cuts of Beef (CHUCK, FLANK, LOIN, ROUND), Acronyms (MIA, OMG, PIN, RAM), Cocktails Minus Place Names (LIBRE, MAMA, MULE, SLING).

The second-toughest Connections puzzle, according to the analysis, was on May 5, 2024. That puzzle’s categories and answers were Something Gained From Hard Work (BENEFIT, FRUIT, RETURN, REWARD), Kinds of Bagel (EGG, EVERYTHING, PLAIN, POPPY), Contribute to a Movie (ACT, DIRECT, PRODUCE, WRITE), Starts of Monsters (FRANK, MUM, VAMP, WERE).

The Word Unscrambler site also sorted its searches by state, and the May 12, 2024, puzzle topped the toughness list in 36 states.

“Americans search 2.4 million times a month for Connections hints,” a site spokesperson said. “Connections hints are being searched 2.4 times more than Wordle hints.”