It's Wednesday, and the Connections board for puzzle #1,249 is up. We've solved it, named the red herrings and arranged the hints so you can take exactly as much help as you need.
Our read of the board: 4 tiles are phrases rather than single words; two of the category names are long, which tends to mean a specific, lateral theme. As always, the purple group is the one built to mislead; if you see an obvious category of five or six words, that is the trap.
Today's board
The sixteen words, in the order they appear on the board. No spoilers here.
SHREDDERHERBALPATOOTWHOOPIE CUSHIONGREENFOLKBUBBLEROUGHAFTERNOONRHEOSTATSTRADITIONALTIRESAND TRAPHOLISTICAIR MATTRESSTEE BOX
Hints for today's Connections
Three levels of help. Level one nudges, level two points, level three names the categories one at a time.
Level 1 · The categories, by first letterYellow: starts with K, 3 wordsGreen: starts with P, 5 wordsBlue: starts with T, 4 wordsPurple: starts with E, 3 words
Level 2 · One word from each groupYellow contains FOLKGreen contains ROUGHBlue contains TIREPurple contains SHREDDER
Level 3 · The category namesYellow category
KINDS OF MEDICINE
Green category
PARTS OF A GOLF COURSE
Blue category
THINGS FILLED WITH AIR
Purple category
ENDING IN PALINDROMES
Today's Connections answers
The full solution to Connections #1,249 is behind the button, yellow to purple. Nothing is shown until you click.
▶ Reveal the answers to Connections #1,249
KINDS OF MEDICINE
FOLK, HERBAL, HOLISTIC, TRADITIONAL
Yellow · the most straightforward group
PARTS OF A GOLF COURSE
GREEN, ROUGH, SAND TRAP, TEE BOX
Green · usually a step harder
THINGS FILLED WITH AIR
AIR MATTRESS, BUBBLE, TIRE, WHOOPIE CUSHION
Blue · where the red herrings start to bite
ENDING IN PALINDROMES
AFTERNOON, PATOOT, RHEOSTATS, SHREDDER
Purple · the trickiest, often wordplay
Yesterday's Connections
Connections #1,248 on Tuesday, November 10 had these four groups (our full write-up is still up):
HUBBUBBROUHAHA, FOOFARAW, HULLABALOO, KERFUFFLE
LITERARY DEVICESHYPERBOLE, METONYMY, ONOMATOPOEIA, OXYMORON
OLD-TIMEY OCCUPATIONSAPOTHECARY, HABERDASHER, SCRIVENER, WAINWRIGHT
WORDS WITH FIVE OF ONE VOWELABRACADABRA, BEEKEEPER, INVISIBILITY, PROTOZOOLOGY
How Connections works
Sixteen words hide four groups of four that share something in common. Pick four, submit, and the row locks in if you are right; four wrong submissions end the game. The groups are colour-coded by difficulty, yellow being the most direct and purple the most devious, and most boards include at least one word that could plausibly sit in two groups. Today's puzzle was edited by Wyna Liu at The New York Times.
A reliable habit: before submitting anything, find the five or six words that seem to belong to one obvious category and work out which of them is the imposter. Solving the strange group first is often easier than solving the obvious one.
That is Wednesday's board. If purple got you, you are in good company; see you tomorrow for #1,250.