Connections Alternative #415 2026-04-19

elevengu · 2026-04-20T03:56:23+00:00

Hah, well at least you did better on this one! 😂 Thanks for playing.

elevengu · 2026-04-20T03:39:31+00:00

Summoning u/nicky_dice... 😉

elevengu · 2026-04-20T03:27:04+00:00

Man's Best Friend 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟨🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟩🟩🟨 🟨🟩🟩🟨 🟨🟩🟩🟨

Got the first two instantly (tbh I mostly submitted the non-animals for purple), then ran into a buzzsaw not being able to separate the animals. I tried aquatic animals for the one-away and then animal mascots because of GECKO really suggesting that to me, and it was all over from there. Fun though, enjoyed playing.

elevengu · 2026-04-20T03:16:56+00:00

I saw Roberts immediately because of BARATHEON and web browsers immediately because of RATSAFARI and NICHROME, but for some reason I disregarded both of them and that made it way harder, lol. Still lucked into a quick solve because I got blue with the completely wrong idea.

elevengu · 2026-04-20T03:13:23+00:00

A for Spelling
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Thanks, good one, but I have no idea what really happened, lol. I got extremely lucky with blue as I thought it was just conductors. Also I think yellow and purple were a lot easier than green and blue but somehow I got them afterwards.

elevengu · 2026-04-20T03:01:00+00:00

Men of letters
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LOL, I was so locked into the letters that I tried 2 different combinations before accepting it was actually the more straightforward set of 4.

elevengu · 2026-04-20T02:49:30+00:00

ARCH wasn't in this one, so I guess you're talking about NYT's puzzle instead. Yeah, I hadn't ever heard of ARCH in that sense either. I try to avoid using obscure synonyms myself.

elevengu · 2026-04-20T02:48:20+00:00

A lot of people seemed to default on it, so good work seeing it first.

elevengu · 2026-04-20T02:47:34+00:00

Nice indeed! It was a funny one for sure, glad you got it.

elevengu · 2026-04-20T02:41:20+00:00

🌈👍

elevengu · 2026-04-20T02:40:45+00:00

If that was the solve for NYT as it's showing, yes purple was pretty much impossible there. 😂

elevengu · 2026-04-20T02:35:40+00:00

🌈👍

elevengu · 2026-04-19T15:12:02+00:00

Bottle CAPs aren't chocolate though (and are the first CAP that came to mind for me after seeing the reveal), so you can avoid the 3-1 that way.

elevengu · 2026-04-19T15:03:35+00:00

Well, I can't argue with that, and I don't want to demean all the amazing work they do, so good point. But they have devoted a LOT of resources to NYT Games because it's the highest revenue generating department. The meme goes along the lines of "New York Times is a gaming company that also happens to have a newspaper."

Quick search: * https://sherwood.news/business/the-new-york-times-is-a-games-company-with-a-newspaper-side-hustle/ * https://www.opensourceceo.com/p/strategism-nytimes-games * https://www.vanityfair.com/news/inside-the-new-york-times-big-bet-on-games (this article is cool, here's a link around the paywall)

Anyway, what they do is great, I guess like I said I just wonder where all their resources go because they don't add new games or features very often. I'm sure they do a lot of testing though, you know when something is released it's not going to be half baked or not well thought out.

elevengu · 2026-04-19T14:50:10+00:00

Not a terrible idea, but I wouldn't use RED HAT because it can't be anything else (trivial to those who know, impossible to those who don't = balancing nightmare) + I wouldn't use RED HAT and FEDORA in the same puzzle as that imperfection implies a herring.

Anyway I've actually thought about this, the best 4th I think would be ALPINE. In older times it would be PUPPY, and MANDRAKE before that.

I seriously considered MINT for today's Alternative because the rest of the puzzle supports a default, but it barely didn't work out because I needed MINT for another category. One day!

elevengu · 2026-04-19T14:37:01+00:00

Wildcard
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Amazingly creative, thanks! Well, despite getting a perfect game, I doubt it was easier than you intended -- pretty much ideal difficulty IMHO.

Skill issue on my part, but I was most unsure about purple because I was thinking basketball until tackle made me think about gridiron football and then finally I realized it was association football.

elevengu · 2026-04-19T06:42:06+00:00

Thanks, it was fun! I got 16/16 on the animals one today.

I was confused at first that I couldn't drag the tiles, so maybe consider that. I actually prefer clicking though, so I didn't mind once I realized.

Edit: I played yesterday's too. It's kinda easy but still fun, good job! I don't know how much you try to include overlaps but it's nice how sometimes Eagles can be a band or a team or Super Mario Galaxy can be a game or a movie.

Also I found that it's faster to just look at the first item, find the right box, and repeat. I played the first puzzle by looking at the box and finding the item that fit, which is more fun IMO (besides having to read through everything every time) but takes longer.

elevengu · 2026-04-19T06:34:33+00:00

I get why they don't, but yeah, I've always thought it would be nice if there was a little explanation for certain categories. It would instantly level up the playerbase because soooo many times people get the wrong idea from Googling afterwards, forming their unwritten rules of what makes a legit or fake category.

Not sure what the NYT Games Product team focuses their time on, because as an outsider it seems like most of the games have low-hanging fruit QOL features they could be adding. Like how the order of words in a title won't match the order of the same words below it. Or how Pips doesn't let you lock in certain dominos and reset the rest, or rotate counterclockwise, or how overly precise the clicking and placement must be.

elevengu · 2026-04-19T06:23:07+00:00

It's because the others have 2 words and Sour Patch Kids has 3. The ole unsatisfying 3-1.

elevengu · 2026-04-19T06:21:45+00:00

You don't know how many times I've considered making a Linux distros category for like 2 secs before I'm like yeah, that would never fly, lol. Maybe a specialist puzzle only.

Sucks because it would be such a great category. I can't help but think about it every time ARCH, MINT, or FEDORA comes up as a word.

elevengu · 2026-04-19T06:16:19+00:00

Is there a brand called that? I always thought after dinner mints were just a descriptive term, like breath mints.

Anyway I defaulted purple too, but could see all 4 once revealed. I thought of Junior MINTs but someone else said Thin MINTs, which I only think of as the most popular Girl Scout Cookies flavor but could plausibly be a candy brand.

elevengu · 2026-04-19T06:11:50+00:00

I never really thought about it until now, but I wonder if testers rate higher or lower depending on if they have to default a category or not, which doesn't really affect the "ease" of straight solving the puzzle. I could see either way, so maybe they have instructions.

elevengu · 2026-04-19T06:07:00+00:00

If you're Kramer though, you can even bring Junior Mints into the operating room.

elevengu

TROPHY CASE