Yesterday things didn’t go so well Connections? Don’t worry-Newsweek has you covered.

After Word, Connections is the second most popular New York Times brainteaser. It was created in 2023 by crossword editor Wyna Liu and emerged from a brainstorming session to create new games and puzzles for the publication.

Each week, Liu uses ideas from her daily experiences to build the game. Although she has an official spreadsheet for all her word and category ideas, she also carries a notebook that she uses to write down inspiration as it arises.

“Each board has to be made from scratch,” Liu shared Newsweek in an exclusive interview. She added that when she sits down to create the week’s games, she consults her notebook and spreadsheet, which acts as a “digital sketchpad.”

How to play ‘Connections?’

In Connections, players are given a table of 16 words. From there, they must then categorize the words into four common theme categories. For example yesterday’s Connections linked the words ‘Bat’, ‘Pumpkin’, ‘Spider’ and ‘Witch’ under ‘Halloween Symbols’.

Players can only make four wrong guesses before losing the game.

In her Newsweek interview, Liu shared some tips to help players win Connections.

“My best advice is to wait as long as possible before gambling,” Liu said. “You may see the board and have fully identified the category, seeing five words that could belong in that category.

“Don’t try to guess the four words in that category, because even if you know what the fifth paragraph is, you don’t know which of the four it might not be,” which would ultimately waste a turn.

Trying to find another category first is likely to remove words that could belong to more than one group, which ultimately means there’s less chance of making a mistake, because “your four guesses pass extremely quickly.”

‘Connections‘ #486 Directions for Wednesday, October 9

Newsweek has several pointers to help you with today Connections puzzle.

Yellow Category: Words related to effervescence.

Green Category: Terms related to another word for flourish.

Blue Category: What you could read if you like music.

Purple Category: Think about what you use at the table.

‘Connections’ #486 Answers for Wednesday, October 9

Yellow Category: BRUISING

Yellow words: Bubbles, fizz, foam, foam

Green Category: BURGEON

Green words: Blossom, developing, mature, progress

Blue Category: MUSIC PUBLICATIONS

Blue words: Billboard, Mojo, Pitchfork, Spider

Purple Category: FINISH WITH Crockery

Purple words: Boilerplate, Buttercup, Scare Knife, Withers Spoon

Don’t worry if you didn’t get it. Next Connections puzzle is available from The New York Times at midnight in your local time zone, and Newsweek will be there with more tips.