Are you one of the poor bastards like me who is addicted to daily games? I’m still in a daily group chat that posts both Wordle and Quordle scores.

There’s one New York Times game, though, that I can’t get into because I find it to be incredibly frustrating.

phone
Credit: ponsulak
loading...

Connections

Connections is the Times' 2nd most played game, right behind Wordle. If you’ve never played it before, this is the basic premise:

It is a very challenging daily puzzle where you have to put 16 randomly ordered words into four categories. However, some words will fit into more than one category.

I watched someone play this game once and almost lost my mind. I see nothing enjoyable about it, but I suppose others like that sort of challenge.

Canva
Canva
loading...

For instance, one set of Connections will be:

Canva / TSM Illustration
Canva / TSM Illustration
loading...

BURY, CURRENT, LEACHY, PAIR

What do these words have in common?

They’re all fruit homophones.

Canva
Canva
loading...

I feel like my head is going to explode when thinking about someone figuring that out and coming back to the game the next day out of enjoyment.

One day’s Connections was harder for New Jerseyans than others, according to research done by Unscramlerer.com. They looked at Google Trends to see which day in 2024 had the most searches for “Connections hint.”

SIphotography
SIphotography
loading...

Solving Connections is even Harder than Wordle. Americans search millions of times a month for Connections hints.

(Sidenote, if you’re playing the game and you have to search for hints, do you actually feel like you’ve accomplished something?)

Disgusted man reading a text message
SIphotography
loading...

I digress.

The most difficult day for Connections was May 12, 2024.

These were the pairings that day. See if you can figure out the connection:

Canva / TSM Illustration
Canva / TSM Illustration
loading...

KID, NEEDLE, RIB, TEASE

"Playfully Poke Fun At"

Canva / TSM Illustration
Canva / TSM Illustration
loading...

CHUCK, FLANK, LOIN, ROUND

"Cuts of Beef"

Canva / TSM Illustration
Canva / TSM Illustration
loading...

MIA, OMG, PIN, RAM

"Acronyms"

Canva / TSM Illustration
Canva / TSM Illustration
loading...

LIBRA, MAMA, MULE, SLING

"Cocktails Minus Place Names"

If you were able to tackle May 12’s Connections, I commend you; your fellow Garden State residents weren’t so lucky. I’ll stick with my Wordle and Sudoku, thank you very much.

Solve these picture puzzles

Convert these pictures/Emoji into the correct responses. These pictures are NOT describing the answer — they're telling you which words and sounds to say. The answers are at the bottom.

Gallery Credit: Dino Flammia

POP QUIZ: Can you guess these NJ landmarks from Google Earth images?

Gallery Credit: Dan Zarrow

Travel back in time to a colorized Atlantic City circa 1919

Atlantic City was once considered 'America's Playground,' one of the most popular destinations along the eastern seaboard. This video shows what the boardwalk looked like during its peak. These are some standout screengrabs.

Gallery Credit: Joe Votruba

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5's Kylie Moore. Any opinions expressed are Kylie's own. You can follow Kylie on Instagram.
Click here to contact an editor about feedback or a correction for this story.

More From New Jersey 101.5 FM