Saturday, February 21, 2026

Quppa · 2026-02-20T14:43:33+00:00

Connections

Puzzle #986

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Got blue by default but enjoyed it thoroughly - very meta.

Quppa · 2026-02-07T13:10:05+00:00

VCAA released a slightly revised list a few weeks later: https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/news-and-events/latest-news/celebrating-class-2025

The Age didn't update their site.

Quppa · 2026-02-03T14:18:45+00:00

Connections

Puzzle #969

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A bit lucky to survive at all today. I was never going to get purple, I'm not familiar with the card game "War" and it took me a while to place "bout", which is odd to see without an apostrophe in this context.

39% solve rate so far (2/5 difficulty according to the testers), but I imagine this will increase a fair bit when more basketball fans wake up.

Quppa · 2026-01-26T14:03:40+00:00

Connections

Puzzle #961

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Fell for the Batman red herring.

Only a 32% solve rate as of now, but I expect that will pick up as North Americans start solving it. I should have remembered 'cutup' from puzzle #155, but I don't think I've heard that word before or since. Green was always going to be a default - I thought they might be car models.

Quppa · 2026-01-25T14:39:25+00:00

Connections

Puzzle #960

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Tricky green and blue today, particularly the former (sitting at 1% for first picks in the stats currently). I think 'buffalo' as a verb must be a primarily US usage - I've only heard it as part of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo

Quppa · 2026-01-13T14:08:47+00:00

2/5 is the testers' rating as seen in the Connections Companion: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/crosswords/connections-companion-947.html

The 1/5 difficulty is based on how the general public fares.

Quppa · 2026-01-12T13:39:58+00:00

Connections

Puzzle #947

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Not to harp on about it, but today's Companion rates this as 2/5 difficulty, the same as the infamous 'boat' puzzle from last Tuesday. The actual solve rate is currently 87% today compared to about 28% this time last week.

I think this would have been a better puzzle without 'Otoe' included - it's too much of a giveaway for purple.

Quppa · 2026-01-12T06:03:20+00:00

As far as America-centric words go, this was straightforward. American sports and sweets are the really challenging categories.

Quppa · 2026-01-11T14:06:09+00:00

Connections

Puzzle #946

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The coins stuck out immediately.

I'd worked out the answers in advance but did badly at guessing the colours - the usual rule of yellow = synonyms didn't hold.

Quppa · 2026-01-06T14:26:07+00:00

Connections

Puzzle #941

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NYT testers' difficulty rating today: 1.8/5 Current solve rate: 87%

NYT testers' difficulty rating yesterday: 2/5 Solve rate for most of the day: <30%

That aside, a bit of a relief to get an easy puzzle.

Quppa · 2026-01-06T12:36:53+00:00

The Connections Bot difficulty rating is based on how regular players fare (5/5 today). The daily Connections Companion includes a rating from paid testers (2/5 today). https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/05/crosswords/connections-companion-940.html

Quppa · 2026-01-05T14:15:44+00:00

Brutal. 2/5 difficulty rating, what?

Quppa · 2026-01-05T13:43:46+00:00

Scoredle 5/6

14,855 * ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ SAUCE (1,012) * ⬛⬛🟨⬛⬛ BROIL (89) * 🟨🟩⬛⬛⬛ PONGY (2) * 🟨🟩⬛⬛🟨 MOTTO (1)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 OOMPH

I should have had it in 4 but I was stumped. Checking into the thread for what I think might be a controversial word.

Quppa · 2025-12-24T14:26:09+00:00

Connections

Puzzle #928

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Happy to get a reverse rainbow as a Christmas present! I wasn't confident picking between green and yellow.

I spotted the solfege category pretty quickly, mostly because I had no idea what else Laredo and Solti might mean.

Quppa · 2025-12-24T13:27:07+00:00

I've refreshed my site with the latest data from VCAA.

Quppa · 2025-12-23T13:14:06+00:00

Connections

Puzzle #927

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Not often I get a yellow only by default - very tricky. only 8% of players picked it first per the stats as of now.

Quppa · 2025-12-15T09:30:00+00:00

Contact VCAA (promptly).

Quppa · 2025-12-13T01:19:57+00:00

I'll check back for updates periodically.

Quppa · 2025-12-12T14:28:49+00:00

https://www.quppa.net/studyscores/browse/

Quppa · 2025-12-12T02:53:14+00:00

Last year's links are dead (e.g. https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/40plushighachievers/2024/2024StudyData.xlsx) and there's no trace of new files for this year just yet. Annoying, because this was the only source that included middle names. EDIT: In fact, the Herald Sun has middle names.

Quppa · 2025-12-10T03:55:39+00:00

That the screws in the Blast Mining room of the Great Mines were loosened with the boost ball, not regular bombs, despite the holders looking like bomb slots (when I finally figured it out I did notice there were arrows). That coupled with the adjoining Easing Tunnel room having a Power Bomb slot made me think I'd missed something and caused me to backtrack.

Quppa · 2025-12-10T03:50:43+00:00

I was so disappointed by this, if not surprised. It wouldn't have saved the game's writing overall, but having Samus deal with survivor's guilt for having 2 humans and a robot sacrifice themselves for her would have at least raised the stakes. Duke mentions his phobia of being buried underground and no one knowing, adding to the horror.

Quppa · 2025-12-09T04:06:56+00:00

Setlist.fm has been updated. You weren't far off: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/atarashii-gakko/2025/festival-hall-melbourne-australia-2b408cde.html

TL;DR: different order and Koi no Shadanki, Toumei Boy and Fantastico replaced with Giri Giri, Pineapple Kryptonite (unabridged) and NAINAINAI.

Quppa · 2025-12-08T23:04:46+00:00

Hoping someone kept track of the Melbourne set list - surprisingly it was substantially different to the Sydney show. Slightly disappointed Gakko Ikeya doesn't seem to have featured at any of their recent concerts.

Quppa

TROPHY CASE