It's Wednesday, and the Connections board for puzzle #1,242 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: 3 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.
FLYPOKEIRONWORKSWOODWRINGWEDGEBLEACHPUTTERCRACKERDOORSTOPLOLLFLATIRON BUILDINGSHUFFLETUMBLE DRYPIE SLICE
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 T, 6 wordsGreen: starts with W, 8 wordsBlue: starts with M, 4 wordsPurple: starts with F, one word
Level 2 · One word from each groupYellow contains DOORSTOPGreen contains IRONBlue contains PUTTERPurple contains WORKS
Level 3 · The category namesYellow category
TRIANGULAR PRISMS WITH A SHARP EDGE
Green category
WORDS AFTER "DO NOT" ON A CARE LABEL
Blue category
MOVE IDLY, WITH "AROUND"
Purple category
FIRE___
Today's Connections answers
The full solution to Connections #1,242 is behind the button, yellow to purple. Nothing is shown until you click.
▶ Reveal the answers to Connections #1,242
TRIANGULAR PRISMS WITH A SHARP EDGE
DOORSTOP, FLATIRON BUILDING, PIE SLICE, WEDGE
Yellow · the most straightforward group
WORDS AFTER "DO NOT" ON A CARE LABEL
BLEACH, IRON, TUMBLE DRY, WRING
Green · usually a step harder
MOVE IDLY, WITH "AROUND"
LOLL, POKE, PUTTER, SHUFFLE
Blue · where the red herrings start to bite
FIRE___
CRACKER, FLY, WOOD, WORKS
Purple · the trickiest, often wordplay
Yesterday's Connections
Connections #1,241 on Tuesday, November 3 had these four groups (our full write-up is still up):
KEEP GOINGCARRY ON, CONTINUE, PROCEED, RESUME
THINGS WITH WHEELSOFFICE CHAIR, ROLLER BAG, SHOPPING CART, STROLLER
THINGS A SERVER BRINGS AT A RESTAURANTCHECK, FOOD, MENU, TAP WATER
ENDING IN MENU BAR HEADINGSCREDIT, INTERVIEW, PROFILE, WHELP
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.
Connections resets at midnight in your local time zone. We will be back tomorrow with the hints for #1,243.