How we make Connections puzzles
A big part of my job is to review crossword submissions and determine which puzzles are worth looking at as a whole team. Occasionally, while reviewing submissions, I’ll find one for another of our games, most commonly Connections. We don’t review submissions for Connections: All of the boards are made by Wyna Liu, the game’s editor. A lot of people are surprised to learn this, and that a single person is creating a new puzzle every single day. If you haven’t played Connections, each puzzle consists of 16 cards, which each contain a word or a phrase (or, occasionally, an image). The cards can be organized into four categories of four items. Some of the categories are straightforward, like “Marine mammals” or “Synonyms for falsehood.” Others are more trivia based, like “Figures in Greek myth,” containing ATLAS, ECHO, HELEN and PAN. Finally, the infamous purple category often has a link that you have to think harder about. “Ending with a synonym for location” has things like PARASITE and SUNSPOT, or “Dogs with first letter changed” has DUSKY (from husky) and PERRIER (from terrier). What makes Connections tricky is that there is often a red herring thrown in to misdirect the solver. Wyna often plays with words that have multiple meanings and could conceivably fit in more than one category. So, how does Wyna go about making a new board every single day? She spends a lot of time brainstorming and writing down ideas in a notebook, and we also have an online tool for her to use. Most of her boards stem from a word that could fit in two different categories, and then she’ll flesh out those sets of words. She also sometimes builds a board around a fake category — four things that jump out right away as things that go together, when in reality they’re the seeds for four other categories. For instance, one board had the entries BABY, SPORTY, GINGER and SCARY, which seemed as if they should belong in a Spice Girls category. However, each was part of a different category: shades of blue; adjectives for a sports car; words before “Rogers”; and Disney animated characters plus a letter. I’m always impressed with Wyna’s ability to still come up with new ideas day after day. Do you have a favorite type of category in Connections?
Solve Friday’s Crossword on Easy Mode!
In today’s Wordplay column, Sam Corbin writes about how sometimes less is more in crosswords. For expert hints on today’s puzzle, read her column. Were you able to solve the Friday puzzle with Easy Mode? We want your input! Share your experience with us by email. Easy vs. HardIn today’s puzzle, one of my favorite tricky clues is at 8-Down: [Social activity that may involve wearing a vest]. The clue is not devilish but a little vague, and it’s hard to know what kind of vest to picture. For Easy Mode, I tried to write a colorful clue that gave a little more detail: [Group activity played with infrared light guns].
How are we doing? Thanks for playing! Subscribe to New York Times Games. If you were forwarded this newsletter, you can sign up to receive it regularly here. P.S. The answer to Easy vs. Hard is LASER TAG.
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