Today's Connections has four hidden groups of four. Start with a gentle nudge and only open more if you need it.
Ready for a fresh puzzle? Take it one tidy clue at a time.
Hint 1: One word from each group
Each of these words belongs to a different group.
- Yellow (easiest): DUCK DUCK GOOSE
- Green: ALPHA DOG
- Blue: AMERICAN GOTHIC
- Purple (hardest): ENGLISH HORN
Hint 2: A nudge for each group
A gentle push toward each theme, easiest to hardest.
- Think playground chatter and old-school recess energy.
- These labels all point to someone with real clout.
- Look for art you’d spot in a museum hall.
- Each term hides a little trick in plain sight.
Hint 3: Yellow (easiest) group theme
The yellow group is Classic Children's Games.
Hint 4: Green group theme
The green group is Important Person.
Hint 5: Blue group theme
The blue group is Famous Paintings.
Hint 6: Purple (hardest) group theme
The purple group is Double Misnomers (neither Word Is An Accurate Description).
Show all four answers
Classic Children's Games
DUCK DUCK GOOSE, HOT POTATO, LEAPFROG, MUSICAL CHAIRS
Important Person
ALPHA DOG, BIG CHEESE, HEAVYWEIGHT, TOP BANANA
Famous Paintings
AMERICAN GOTHIC, CAMPBELL'S SOUP CAN, SUNFLOWERS, THE SCREAM
Double Misnomers (neither Word Is An Accurate Description)
ENGLISH HORN, GRAPE-NUTS, MANTIS SHRIMP, SWEETBREAD
About this puzzle
- Edited by Wyna Liu
- Groups are listed from easiest (yellow) to hardest (purple).
Connections deep dive
More about today's puzzle. Everything in this section can include the answer.
Why each word belongs in its group, with a short dictionary meaning where one exists.
Yellow (easiest): Classic Children's Games
- DUCK DUCK GOOSE
- HOT POTATO: (countable, idiomatic) An unwanted problem that is awkward or delicate.
- LEAPFROG: (games) A game, often played by children, in which a player leaps like a frog over the back of another person who has...
- MUSICAL CHAIRS: (children's games) A children's game in which players circle a group of chairs. There is one chair fewer than the num...
Green: Important Person
- ALPHA DOG: (often figuratively) A dominant dog; a dog that is an alpha male or alpha female.
- BIG CHEESE: (idiomatic, dated) A very important figure, especially a high-ranking person in an organization.
- HEAVYWEIGHT: (uncountable, boxing) The professional boxing weight class for boxers weighing more than 190 pounds; a boxer in that ...
- TOP BANANA: (colloquial, idiomatic) The boss, the leader.
Blue: Famous Paintings
- AMERICAN GOTHIC: a 1930 painting by Grant Wood in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.
- CAMPBELL'S SOUP CAN
- SUNFLOWERS: (original title, in French: Tournesols) the title of two series of still life paintings by the Dutch painter Vincent ...
- THE SCREAM: a composition created by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch in 1893.
Purple (hardest): Double Misnomers (neither Word Is An Accurate Description)
- ENGLISH HORN: (music) A woodwind instrument similar to an oboe, but larger and pitched a fifth lower.
- GRAPE-NUTS
- MANTIS SHRIMP: A stomatopod, a marine crustacean of the order Stomatopoda, with powerful claws and a carapace which covers only the ...
- SWEETBREAD: The pancreas or thymus gland of an animal, especially a lamb or calf, as food.
Play today's Connections at The New York Times
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