You must combine words in a creative manner in the new game from the New York Times.

My first endeavor at playing the Connections Game did not begin well. There was a grid of 16 words, and I was instructed to select four-word groups that shared a common motif. I chose rain, humidity, snow, and precipitation, only to be informed that this was incorrect. Huh?

But a moment later, that "Huh?" was supplanted by a "Aha!" Heat formed an NBA franchise with the Jazz, Bucks, and Nets. The appropriate companion for the rainy-weather words was hail. Race car, which seemed to be an outlier—there were no other vehicles—turned out to be part of a set of palindromes.

The New York Times' novel puzzle game is played in this manner. The four sets of terms are color-coded according to their level of difficulty, and you are permitted four "mistakes" (such as my initial estimate) before you lose. I only made that one error the first time, and I solved the conundrum precisely the following day.

Where to participate in Connections

This brand-new game is now available in the NYT Crossword app and on the paper's Games page after the New York Times removed it from "beta" mode. Every day, a new numbered conundrum is available, similar to the daily Wordles.

Instructions for Connections

You are given 16 tokens in the game, each of which has a word or brief phrase on it. Each turn, you must choose four squares that you believe constitute a group. Usually, groups consist of the same object (such as hail, rain, precipitation, and snow), but there is typically at least one grouping that relies on alliteration. For instance, one conundrum grouped uncertainty, shadow, movie, and vote, all of which can be cast.

If you are incorrect, the tiles will vibrate and a message will appear indicating how far off you are ("one away..."). If you're correct, a colored bar will appear near the top of the board, displaying the four words and exposing their theme, while your remaining tiles will rearrange themselves at the bottom of the board.

You may make four errors. When time runs out, the game is over, and you will be shown the incorrect answers.

Even though there are four categories, only three need to be determined. At the conclusion, there will be four remaining tiles that must belong to the same group. Before submitting that last group for your giveaway point, for additional puzzle-like enjoyment, attempt to determine the theme.

How to succeed in Connections

As I discovered on my first attempt, the objective is not to find any four-word grouping, but rather the groupings that the puzzle creators intended. Don't jump the gun when you see your first potential connection. Consider the designated products; do any of them fit elsewhere?

It is also wise to assign a name to the characteristic that your four potential candidates share. The game's help interface suggests that the categories will never be as comprehensive as "names" or "verbs," so be sure to narrow your search. Note that my initial estimate was simply "weather," but the correct answer was "moist weather." After a correct clustering estimate, the game will identify the theme.

One Redditor suggests noting down prospective classifications on a scrap of paper, even if you wind up with more or fewer than four words in each group. Once you see them all written down, one of them may stand out.