Games Like NYT Connections: 8 Grouping and Lateral-Thinking Puzzles
Love finding the hidden link in Connections? These puzzles test the same muscle: spotting categories, dodging red herrings, and thinking sideways.
By Amit Yadav · Published October 25, 2026
Connections works because it is unfair in a fair way. Sixteen words, four groups, and at least one word that looks like it fits two places. Once you finish the purple group, you want another one.
Here are the games that use the same skill, which is spotting a hidden category and resisting the obvious one.
The closest match
Connections: Sports Edition
The same format with a sports lens. Every category leans on teams, athletes, leagues, venues and sporting jargon. If you follow sport, it can be easier than the main game. If you don’t, it is a brutal crash course. Our Connections Sports hints give the themes first.
Puzzgrid
Puzzgrid is a library of user-made grouping grids in the style of the “Connecting Wall” from the UK quiz show Only Connect. Because anyone can make a grid, quality and difficulty vary, but the best ones are as tricky as a hard purple. It is the best answer to “I want more Connections right now.”
Same instinct, different board
NYT Strands
Strands is a word search with a theme, and the theme is the puzzle. You have to work out what links the hidden words before they start jumping out of the grid, which is the same muscle as naming a Connections category. Strands hints reveal the theme in steps.
Contexto
Contexto is about meaning, not spelling. Every guess is ranked by how close it is in meaning to the secret word. Connections players tend to be good at it, because both games reward thinking in clusters of related ideas. Try the Contexto hints if you are stuck in the thousands.
Bracket City
Bracket City hides one sentence of trivia inside nested bracketed clues. Solving an inner bracket replaces it with its answer and unlocks the one around it. It rewards the same “what is this really asking?” reading that makes Connections click. Bracket City hints.
For the wordplay-obsessed
Many of the hardest Connections groups are wordplay: hidden words, homophones, ”___ ball” fill-ins. If those are your favorite groups, these games lean all the way in.
Minute Cryptic
One cryptic crossword clue a day. Every clue is a straight definition welded to a set of wordplay instructions that build the same answer. It is the best gentle introduction to cryptics we know of. See our Minute Cryptic hints.
Daily Jumble
The newspaper classic. Unscramble a few ordinary words, then rearrange the circled letters once more to answer a pun. That pun is pure purple-group energy. Jumble answers.
Keyword
The Washington Post’s daily puzzle gives you a set of words, each missing one letter, and the missing letters spell a hidden keyword. It is short and feels like solving a single Connections group from the inside. Keyword hints.
Getting better at Connections itself
Most players improve fastest by slowing down. Find the group you are sure of, name the red herring out loud before you submit, and save purple for last. We wrote a full Connections strategy guide on exactly that, and our daily Connections hints are built to nudge rather than spoil.
Word Game Clues is an independent hint site and is not affiliated with The New York Times or any of the game publishers mentioned here.
Keep playing
Same spoiler-safe format, for every daily puzzle we cover.