When looking at today's Connections puzzle, the categories are divided into that have wildly different meanings, creating a unique spread of phrases this time around. Without some hints to help you find the right answers, the variation of words can be very confusing. By identifying definitions and visualizing how certain are used, you'll have a much easier time with today's puzzle.

Unlike the five chances you have to make a mistake with the daily NYT Worlde puzzles, you only have four mistakes in today's Connections. This gives you less room to make guesses, so take more time to look up words and imagine how they're used before forming groups. I found that today's puzzle is far simpler when you envision the look, form, and function of words based on their definitions.

Today's Connections Category Hints

May 21 #710

One of the ways I was able to solve today's puzzle was by viewing the words as titles or actions rather than by straightforward definitions. For example, when I looked at the word TRASH, I didn't just think about how it could be a literal phrase for garbage. I thought about how TRASH could also designate a "Trash" folder on a computer, where you would throw away digital data.

These hints can help you start forming categories, especially if you are struggling to find patterns in today's puzzle:

• One category is about things used to describe actions for preventing someone from getting inside somewhere.
• One category is about things used to title different subjects that organize a computer's contents.
• One category is about things doctors use to define different items in medical .
• One category is about things that all open in the same way.

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 21 #710

Yellow Answers: Revealed & Explained

This part of the puzzle was easy for me, as I initially saw that REFUSE, DENY, and BLOCK were all that describe preventing something from taking place. However, even with this initial success, I envisioned that BAR referred to a literal location rather than an action. As such, it took me some time to realize that to BAR someone from doing something fit into the context of this category.

Green Answers: Revealed & Explained

This puzzle section was a struggle for me, as I originally thought that DESKTOP, TABLET, and LAPTOP were all in another category to themselves. However, I realized that TRASH could mean the "Trash" folder on a computer, which made me rethink some . I realized that there is a MUSIC, PICTURES, and DESKTOP section in a computer as well, which helps organize different types of content on it.

Blue Answers: Revealed & Explained

Whenever a doctor tells you to take a prescribed pill, they'll always refer to it as a TABLET instead. This is the logic that helped me figure out this category, which uses the more medical definitions of words rather than their more common phrases. A PATCH means a bandage, CREAM means something akin to lotion, and SPRAY is a mist sometimes used in medical procedures.

Purple Answers: Revealed & Explained

Visualization was crucial for this section of the puzzle, as these words have seemingly no pattern through their definitions alone. Starting with WAFFLE IRON, I recognized that both CLAM and LAPTOP both were shaped in the same way as a waffle iron. Similar to a GameBoy Advance or some flip phones, a COMPACT CD player would open in the exact same way as the other in this category.

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