If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Thursday, April 11, 2024, read on—I’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solutions to all four categories. Along the way, I’ll explain the meanings of the trickier words and we’ll learn how everything fits together. Beware, there are spoilers below for April 11, NYT Connections #305! Read on if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Connections game.
If you want an easy way to come back to our Connections hints every day, bookmark this page. You can also find our past hints there as well, in case you want to know what you missed in a previous puzzle.
Below, I’ll give you some oblique hints at today’s Connections answers. And farther down the page, I’ll reveal the themes and the answers. Scroll slowly and take just the hints you need!
Hints for the themes in today’s Connections puzzle
Here are some spoiler-free hints for the groupings in today’s Connections:
Yellow category - What you might ask for at the barber.
Green category - Tools with numbers.
Blue category - How liquids get to your house.
Purple category - What you might see at the drive thru.
BEWARE: Spoilers follow for today’s Connections puzzle!
We’re about to give away some of the answers. Scroll slowly if you don’t want the whole thing spoiled. (The full solution is a bit further down.)
A heads up about the tricky parts
MERMAID and PIXIE are both fantastical creatures, but they don't belong to the same category today.
BOWL and PIPE have nothing to do with cannabis, but PIPE does refer to a LINE through which something might travel.
Today's blue category isn't a fill-in-the-blank, but it works as one.
What are the categories in today’s Connections?
Yellow: HAIRCUTS, WITH “CUT”
Green: MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
Blue: WATER AND GAS CONDUITS
Purple: FAST FOOD MASCOTS
DOUBLE BEWARE: THE SOLUTION IS BELOW
Ready to learn the answers to today’s Connections puzzle? I give them all away below.
What are the yellow words in today’s Connections?
The yellow grouping is considered to be the most straightforward. The theme for today’s yellow group is HAIRCUTS, WITH “CUT” and the words are: BOWL, BUZZ, CREW, PIXIE.
What are the green words in today’s Connections?
The green grouping is supposed to be the second-easiest. The theme for today’s green category is MEASURING INSTRUMENTS and the words are: COMPASS, RULER, SCALE, WATCH.
What are the blue words in today’s Connections?
The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is WATER AND GAS CONDUITS and the words are: CHANNEL, LINE, MAIN, PIPE.
What are the purple words in today’s Connections?
The purple grouping is considered to be the hardest. The theme for today’s purple category is FAST FOOD MASCOTS and the words are: CLOWN, COLONEL, KING, MERMAID.
How I solved today’s Connections
I first see MERMAID and PIXIE next to each other and think there might be a fantasy character category, but I know NYT likes to throw in a red herring, so let's keep looking. PIXIE is also the name of a haircut, and look, there's CREW, BOWL, and BUZZ. 🟨
Next, I see COMPASS, which doesn't really have alternate meanings, so I look for other things that might fit with it. There's RULER, SCALE, and WATCH. Nothing else in the puzzle fits that category, so let's try it. 🟩
LINE and MAIN make me think of water, and CHANNEL and PIPE are also water-related terms. I thought the category might be WATER ___, but it's apparently "WATER AND GAS CONDUITS." Sure. 🟦
The remaining four all seem like fantasy-style characters, except for COLONEL, and then I realize that COLONEL, KING, and CLOWN are all mascots for fast food restaurants. What's MERMAID for? Ah, Starbucks. 🟪
Connections Puzzle #305 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟪🟪🟪🟪
How to play Connections
I have a full guide to playing Connections, but here’s a refresher on the rules:
First, find the Connections game either on the New York Times website or in their Games app (formerly the Crossword app). You’ll see a game board with 16 tiles, each with one word or phrase. Your job is to select a group of four tiles that have something in common. Often they are all the same type of thing (for example: RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, and SNOW are all types of wet weather) but sometimes there is wordplay involved (for example, BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH are all types of lists: bucket list, guest list, and so on).
Select four items and hit the Submit button. If you guessed correctly, the category and color will be revealed. (Yellow is easiest, followed by green, then blue, then purple.) If your guess was incorrect, you’ll get a chance to try again.
You win when you’ve correctly identified all four groups. But if you make four mistakes before you finish, the game ends and the answers are revealed.
How to win Connections
The most important thing to know to win Connections is that the groupings are designed to be tricky. Expect to see overlapping groups. For example, one puzzle seemed to include six breakfast foods: BACON, EGG, PANCAKE, OMELET, WAFFLE, and CEREAL. But BACON turned out to be part of a group of painters along with CLOSE, MUNCH, and WHISTLER, and EGG was in a group of things that come by the dozen (along with JUROR, ROSE, and MONTH). So don’t hit “submit” until you’ve confirmed that your group of four contains only those four things.
If you’re stuck, another strategy is to look at the words that seem to have no connection to the others. If all that comes to mind when you see WHISTLER is the painting nicknamed “Whistler’s Mother,” you might be on to something. When I solved that one, I ended up googling whether there was a painter named Close, because Close didn’t fit any of the obvious themes, either.
Another way to win when you’re stuck is, obviously, to read a few helpful hints–which is why we share these pointers every day. Check back tomorrow for the next puzzle!