Welcome to a weekend mind-bender that left many players scratching their heads and second-guessing their every move. Saturday’s edition of the New York Times Connections word game wasn’t just challenging—it flirted with absurdity. With themes ranging from employment verbs to secret nods to medieval weapons, today’s grid brought surprises at every click.
And yes, for anyone still wondering—“GRIMACE” was indeed meant to evoke a mace. Wild, right?
Some Puzzles Are Personal
For Kris Holt, the human behind the daily Connections commentary, Saturday’s game struck a chord deeper than mere semantics.
Being misnamed or misrepresented hits differently when your own name is often mispronounced or misspelled. Holt reflected candidly on his distaste for being addressed by his surname—or worse, “Holty,” a nickname that’s followed him since school. He’d once dreamed of going mononymously by “Kris” on social media, but realized the risks involved with short, high-value usernames.
This personal preamble wasn’t just a digression. It framed the ethos behind Holt’s writing: respect, accuracy, and a sincere attempt to call everyone—and every word—by what they prefer to be known as.
Four Groups, Endless Red Herrings
Today’s grid came loaded with 16 words that looked innocent enough at first glance—until players realized they could be grouped in dozens of seemingly logical ways. And that was the trap.
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Yellow group — Employ: CONTRACT, ENGAGE, RETAIN, SIGN
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Green group — Parts of a website: BANNER, HEADER, MENU, SIDEBAR
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Blue group — Magazines: BILLBOARD, PEOPLE, STAR, TIME
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Purple group — Ending with medieval weapons: CROSSWORD, GRIMACE, RAINBOW, SEMBLANCE
A good chunk of players, like Holt, initially grouped SIGN, HEADER, and BANNER together, imagining a print-advertising theme. Others assumed words like CONTRACT and MENU were clues for paper-based media.
Yet nothing clicked.
That Purple Group Was a Monster
Of all the challenges, the purple group stood tall as today’s boss level. It didn’t make sense—until it did. The connection? Each word ended with a reference to a medieval weapon.
Take a second look:
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CROSSWORD → sword
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GRIMACE → mace
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RAINBOW → bow
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SEMBLANCE → lance
The mental leap required here wasn’t small. Players had to spot hidden weapons in seemingly innocent nouns. Some did; most didn’t. And even Holt admitted it felt like a stretch, noting the hint “blast from the past” may not have fully paid off.
When the Mind Tricks You
It’s easy to overthink a game like this. And Saturday’s puzzle punished anyone who strayed from Occam’s razor.
Holt shared a few of his failed attempts, which many readers likely echoed:
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A group of BILLBOARD, SIGN, BANNER, HEADER? Nope.
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Words that appear in black and white, like CONTRACT and MENU? Wrong again.
There’s a psychology to this game—one that turns confidence into confusion with every misclick. The clues can feel obvious in hindsight but maddening in the moment.
Why “Connections” Keeps Hooking Us
If you’re wondering why so many people keep coming back to this daily torment disguised as a game, you’re not alone.
Here’s what keeps players glued to the grid:
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It’s short but addictive.
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The mix of logic and wordplay is just hard enough to feel rewarding.
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Sharing results on social media keeps the streak alive.
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Everyone loves a streak, and no one wants to break it.
Plus, the game rewards a very human instinct: finding patterns. Even where they don’t exist.
A Song to Soothe Your Puzzle-Brain
After navigating swords hidden in crosswords and spotting TIME and PEOPLE as magazines (instead of philosophical concepts), a breather was needed.
Kris’s partner suggested “Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley as the perfect Saturday vibe. And maybe that’s what we all need—after all the overthinking—to remember: Every little thing is gonna be alright.
Even if SEMBLANCE hides a lance.
