My first effort at the Connections Game did not go well. I had to choose sets of four words from a grid of sixteen that each followed a theme. I went in the rain, heat, snow, and sleet just to be told that this was incorrect in some way. Huh?

A "hmm" was followed by a "aha" a little while after. To create a group of NBA teams, the Heat teamed up with the Jazz, Bucks, and Nets. The appropriate match for the weather-related nouns was hail. There were no other cars there, so the race car stood out as an anomaly. Yet, it turned out to be one of a group of palindromes.

You play the New York Times' latest puzzle game in this manner. You are allowed four "mistakes" (like my original guess) before you are formally eliminated from the game. The four groups of words are each color-coded according to how difficult they are. I just made that one mistake the first time, and I finished the puzzle properly the next day.

By the way, the game is completely new. The NYT describes it as being in "beta" state in a blog post about an earlier game, Digits. If the game functions well and players seem to enjoy it, it might become an official offering; otherwise, it might be scrapped.

How to succeed at Connections

The goal is to try to find the groupings that the puzzle creators had in mind, not just any four-word arrangement, as I learned from my first play. So when you see your first potential connection, try not to pull the trigger too quickly. Examine the things you've noted; could any of them be used anywhere else?

It's also wise to identify the trait that each of your possible matches shares. Make sure you've narrowed your search to something particular because the game's help screen suggests that the categories will never be as inclusive as "names" or "verbs." Note that whereas my initial assumption was simply "weather," the actual grouping was "wet weather." After you identify the grouping properly, the game will name the theme.