How you visualize different words in today's Connections puzzle will lead you to the right answers, not just the definitions of phrases being used. With a limited number of chances to solve the puzzle, I found that it was tricky to find comparisons between the number of seemingly disconnected concepts available. However, with the right clues, you should have a far easier time deciphering what pairings today's puzzle asks for.

As you try to make four groups of four words during today's puzzle, you only have four chances to make a mistake. Similar to the NYT Vertex game, today's Connections puzzle actively wants you to visualize certain ideas before pairing them together. For example, two words that have similar definitions may be grouped into completely separate categories due to how they are structured or perceived.

Today's Connections Category Hints

May 13 #702

The main theme I found behind today's puzzle were organized locations or concepts, with every word having multiple contexts that were ambiguous at best. Some phrases that I saw had very straightforward definitions, while others had hidden meanings based on how they fit together with other ideas. Overall, this created a unique challenge that was easier to solve when I started figuring out what each category represented.

For anyone looking for clues about the categories in today's puzzle, check out the following hints to get a good head start:

• One category is about things related to locations where you would buy different stuff.
• One category is about things related to used to describe what kind of pizza you ordered.
• One category is about things related to words that have a color mixed into it.
• One category is about things related to words you put before another word for "pristine."

If you want to go all out with some of your clue-searching, you should look at the category names to get some extra help. There are also spoilers for each category if you find yourself needing to solve a single category to finish up.

Today's Connections Answers

May 13 #702

Yellow Answers: Revealed & Explained

This was the first part of the puzzle I solved, mainly because BAZAAR only has one definition as a type of market where you buy different goods. Following that theme, a MARKET was an easy enough term to include, as well as OUTLET for another type of smaller-scale store where unique products are offered. From there, I included FAIR because it seemed to refer to a county fair, or another place where more novel things are sold.

Green Answers: Revealed & Explained

Multiple types of food have SUPREME or VEGGIE versions, with PLAIN referring to the lack of anything additional on an order. These were my thoughts as I looked at these phrases in today's puzzle, as I did not imagine pizza specifically, but I did identify the organization of food-themed words. HAWAIIAN is the word that made me recognize the idea around pizza, allowing me to fuly understand this part of the puzzle.

Blue Answers: Revealed & Explained

At first, I had no idea how some of the words in this category went together, as each has a unique definition with seemingly no pattern. However, as I looked at some of the words remaining in the puzzle, I noticed how EVERGREEN had "green" at the end of it, while MARIGOLD had "gold." This comparison made me think of a nature theme at first, but looking deeper into how words were structured, I quickly saw "silver" in QUICKSILVER and "red" in INFRARED.

Purple Answers: Revealed & Explained

As someone who recently did a bunch of spring-cleaning, I saw how VACUUM and BATHROOM could be related. You clean your BATHROOM and PIPEs regularly, sometimes with a VACUUM to make sure everything is spick and span. That being said, it took me awhile to see how DRY related to dry cleaner, another tool used for fixing up stuff to make it look much nicer.

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