If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Friday, April 19, 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 19, NYT Connections #313! 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 tape and other similar products do.
Green category - The work of a novelist or a reporter.
Blue category - He went to Jared!
Purple category - A fill-in-the-blank, with one curveball.
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
CUT, COPY, and PASTE all belong to different categories.
There’s one pop culture-related clue on the board today, but you might not find it until the end. (I didn’t.)
What are the categories in today’s Connections?
Yellow: ATTACH WITH ADHESIVE
Green: PUBLISHED LINES
Blue: DIAMOND QUALITIES
Purple: A-___
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 ATTACH WITH ADHESIVE and the words are: ADHERE, GLUE, PASTE, STICK.
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 PUBLISHED LINES and the words are: COPY, TEXT, WORDS, WRITING.
What are the blue words in today’s Connections?
The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is DIAMOND QUALITIES and the words are: CARAT, CLARITY, COLOR, CUT.
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 A-___ and the words are: LIST, OK, PLUS, ROD.
How I solved today’s Connections
I see CUT and PASTE and think there might be a computer command category, but then I see ADHERE and realize that PASTE goes with that, as well as GLUE and STICK. 🟨
CARAT sticks out as a term related to jewelry, and I remember that there was recently a category about types of diamond cuts, so I look around for other similar words. I see CLARITY and CUT, which make sense to me, and COLOR is the other thing that seems to fit. I’m not entirely confident, but it’s worth a guess. Hey, look at that. 🟦
I see COPY and OK and look for other words that mean “affirmative” (I’m imagining a soldier speaking into a walkie-talkie) but nothing else really works. Ah, COPY can also refer to text in an article, so that goes with WRITING, TEXT, and WORDS. 🟩
I stare at the last row, confused, and can’t figure out what the connection is. My coffee hasn’t hit the bloodstream yet, so let’s see what it is. Oh, a fill-in-the-blank. It’s always tricky when a word, like ROD, also doubles as a name—in this case, it’s referring to J-Lo’s ex, Alex Rodriguez. 🟪
Connections Puzzle #313 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟪🟪🟪🟪
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!