The puzzle number is #1087. The purple group hurts today. Really hurts.
If you’re registered, go to the Times Connections Bot. It breaks down your score, your streaks, how many you’ve solved. It lets you ner out over your own mediocrity. Or brilliance, if that’s your thing.
Before we dive into the meat of it. Here’s the gist. Four colors. Four groups. Yellow is the soft underbelly. Purple is the wall you keep running into.
The Hints
Yellow? Think spy craft. 007 territory.
Green is British. Specifically, potatoes. The UK knows how to process them.
Blue feels traditional. Like old flags.
Purple is tricky. Look at two-word phrases. Look at the second words. Do they share a grammatical trait? Yes. That’s where you lose your brain cells.
The Answers
Yellow theme is Clandestine.
- cloak-and-dagger
- covert
- hush-hush
- top secret
Easy. You probably nailed this blindfolded.
Green theme is British potato dishes.
- bubble and squeak
- chips
- jacket potato
- mash
Familiar fare. Unless you hate carbs. Then this section is your worst enemy.
Blue theme is Heraldic achievements.
- coat of arms
- crest
- helmet
- shield
Armor and insignia. The language of kings. And knights. And fantasy novel cover art.
Purple theme is Ending in modal auxiliary verbs.
Wait. What?
Here are the four words that wrecked your afternoon.
- Cape May
- free will
- grape must
- tin can
See it yet? May. Will. Must. Can. They’re verbs. Helping verbs, specifically. You use them with another verb to express possibility or necessity. I can go. She must stay. We will see. He may come.
But here? They’re nouns. Or parts of compound nouns. Grape must is juice before fermentation. Tin can is metal packaging. Free will is philosophy. Cape May is a place.
Did you try grouping “Cape” with anything? Probably not. But it’s there. Waiting for you.
“Modal auxiliary verbs are helping verbs used alongside a a main verb.” The puzzle doesn’t explain it. You just have to guess the grammatical link. Or know it. Which feels like cheating. Or winning. Depending on who you ask.
The Hard Stuff
This wasn’t an outlier. Some puzzles are designed to break you. #5 had “things you can set” like a volleyball, a table, a mood, and a record. #4 trapped people with “one in a dozen”—egg, juror, rose, month. #1 mixed candidates, faucets, mascara, and noses as things that “run.”
It’s subtle. It’s frustrating. It’s why you come back.
Did you get the purple group right away? Probably not. I sure didn’t. We’ll all do it again tomorrow anyway.
