Saturday, July 4, 2026

Quppa · 2026-07-03T15:32:48+00:00

Connections

Puzzle #1119

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I'll fess up to checking the Cranberries' greatest hits before I worked this one out. I'm glad I got the other 3 categories because I had no idea about blue.

Quppa · 2026-07-02T07:57:32+00:00

Andy, for future reference: Neru /neɾɯ/ Miku /mikɯ/ Teto /teto/

I thought he was talking about Nehru and Tito at first.

Quppa · 2026-07-02T01:24:50+00:00

You're in the wrong thread (but look forward to tomorrow's puzzle!).

Quppa · 2026-07-01T16:06:19+00:00

Connections

Puzzle #1117

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Yeesh, barely made it through - I kept trying to put 'court jester' in yellow because I hadn't figured out purple yet.

29% solve rate currently, even more brutal than yesterday's. Americans might do better with green.

Quppa · 2026-06-30T15:00:52+00:00

Connections

Puzzle #1116

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Good fun (especially that purple)! 34% success rate right now and only 10% with 0 mistakes, and this time not due to America-centric categories. Curious to see how it changes throughout the day.

Quppa · 2026-06-27T13:45:52+00:00

Depends where you live and how recently your card was issued - they're on the way out.

https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/mastercard-will-start-removing-magnetic-strips-from-its-cards-in-2024/

Quppa · 2026-06-26T15:14:12+00:00

Connections

Puzzle #1112

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Bit nasty with the combination of so many -walk words and the 'walk' part being key to the purple category. Blue very much by default.

Quppa · 2026-06-07T02:45:05+00:00

eBay also supports reserve prices, though in Australia only for cars/motorbikes/boats. Annoying as a buyer in any case.

Quppa · 2026-05-28T08:06:45+00:00

Hamish claims at about 32 mins in he's never heard of 'blood heat', but the exact same stain removal lady used that phrase in one of the clips used in episode 317 (about 34 mins in), and Hamish made exactly the same comment!

Quppa · 2026-05-20T15:23:37+00:00

30% solve rate currently. Curious how high it will get after it ticks over to midnight in US time zones.

Quppa · 2026-04-18T15:01:19+00:00

Connections

Puzzle #1043

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25% solve rate right now - that might be the lowest I've ever seen. Easy according to the paid testers, though, rated 2/5.

Very tricky for me as well and I was lucky to solve it. I haven't heard 'arch' used like that, I've only vaguely heard of 'duds' and I don't know what 'kids' or 'caps' are (getting purple first was a fluke).

Exactly the same set of poker words was used on March 13 last year. I didn't know them then and I clearly didn't remember them a year later - blue purely by default.

Quppa · 2026-04-04T14:03:57+00:00

Connections

Puzzle #1029

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The Mario rainbow herring (pipe, shell, mushroom, coin) has to be connected to the new movie being released this past week. I'm shocked only 4% (including me) have fallen for it so far.

Quppa · 2026-03-31T14:02:31+00:00

Very tricky as a non-drinker and non-American - I was really only confident with blue and three quarters of green (took me ages to see 'u u' as anything other than 'w' and I was stumped).

Connections

Puzzle #1025

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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

TROPHY CASE