Just over a year after the daily word puzzle was introduced to the public, Connections continues to grow in popularity.

The popular puzzle was created by The New York Times in June last year and became the newspaper’s second most played game, after Wordle, another word puzzle.

If you have never played it, connections challenges players to uncover threads that connect a series of words. Instructions on how to play are below. Clues and answers to Thursday’s puzzle are near the end of the article.

How to play connections

In Connections, players must group 16 words into four categories based on their association. For example, Wednesday’s game linked the words stuff, ram, ram And Things under the category Cram.

Each of the four categories is marked with a color that also indicates its level of difficulty. Yellow is the easiest category, followed by green, blue, and purple. However, the puzzles are rarely easy and use homophones and wordplay, among other things, to challenge players.

The familiarity of the words used and how often they appear in modern life are also factors in difficulty, although less common words are not only used in the more difficult categories. “Element overlap,” where one word can be linked to multiple categories, is another way Connections tests players.

If players get stuck, they can click the Shuffle button, which will change the order of the words on the screen.

Wyna Liu, crossword editor at Just who was commissioned to develop Connections, said Newsweek about their recommended tips for playing the game.

“My best advice is to wait as long as possible before guessing,” she said.

“You may see the board and have already fully identified the category because you see five words that could belong in that category,” she continued. “Don’t try to guess the four words in that category because even though you know what the fifth member is, you don’t know which of the four it might not be,” which will ultimately cause you to waste a turn.

“Don’t do what I do, which is ‘anger release,'” Liu said.

The answers to Thursday’s Connections puzzle will be revealed at the end of this article, so scroll carefully if you want to find them out for yourself.

Connections #424 Notes for August 8

Newsweek offers some clues to help you figure out Thursday’s Connections categories.

Yellow: These words can be used to describe the different ways of diving into a pool.

Green: For each of these answers, something needs to be said more than once.

Blue: As you answer these questions, think of something or someone you depend on.

Purple: These words come before any broadcast medium you would hear.

Connections #424 Answers for August 8

Yellow category: Splashy ways to get into a pool

Yellow words: Backflip, belly flop, cannonball, jackknife

Green category: Repeat

Green words: echo, parrot, quote, repetition

Blue category: Mainstay

Blue words: anchor, backbone, cornerstone, pillar

Purple Category: ___ Radio

Purple words: ham, pirate, satellite, conversation

Did you guess the answers correctly? Then congratulations. If not, you’ll have another chance to solve the puzzle on Friday.

Connections will be published at midnight in your local time zone. Newsweek will be back with another round of hints and tips for each new game.