It’s 8:05 AM. You’ve already crushed Wordle. You’re feeling like a genius. Then you open Connections.

You see the words: PARTY, LINE, DISCO, CONGA. Your brain screams: “Dance! It’s types of dances!” You click them. You hit Submit. The bubbles shake. “One Away.”

You stare at the screen. You lose a life. You lose another life. And then the answer is revealed. The category wasn’t “Dances.” It was “Words that follow the word ‘Dinner’.” Dinner Party. Dinner Line? (Wait, really?). TV Dinner?

If this makes you want to throw your phone across the room, welcome to the club. Connections isn’t a vocabulary test. It’s a game of “Guess What Wyna Liu Was Thinking When She Wrote This.” If you keep losing because you are taking the words literally, you are playing it wrong. You have to stop thinking like a dictionary and start thinking like a weirdo.

Here is how to spot the invisible threads before you run out of guesses.

The “Invisible Word” Trick (The Purple Category)

The Purple category is almost never about what the words mean. It’s about what the words touch. If you see four random nouns that have zero relationship like HAM, SWISS, ROLL, RYE stop trying to find a deep meaning.

They are just holding hands with an invisible ghost. Say the word ROCK in front of them. Rock ham? No. Say the word CHEESE after them. Ham cheese? Swiss cheese. Roll cheese? No.

Try BOARD. Dashboard. Keyboard. Surfboard. That is usually the answer. If the grid looks like a random pile of junk, start playing “Fill in the Blank” immediately. It’s usually the only way to solve the Purple line before you waste your guesses on the obvious decoys.

The “Synonym” Trap is Real

The game is programmed to lie to you. There will always be five words that fit a category. Let’s say the category is “Types of Footwear.” You see: BOOT, SNEAKER, SANDAL, PUMP, LOAFER. That’s five. You have to click four.

If you just guess randomly, you will lose. One of those shoes is a traitor. Look at PUMP. Does it fit “Shoes”? Yes. But does it also fit a category of “Gas Station Verbs”? Pump gas. Fill tank… If the other words in the grid are FILL, TOP, and CHECK, then PUMP belongs to the gas station group, not the shoe group. Never hit submit until you find the “Traitor.” If you have five words that fit, you are missing something else.

The “American Problem” (Sorry, Europe)

If you are playing this in London, Sydney, or Dublin, you have probably lost a streak because of “US State Abbreviations” or “American Candy Bars.” It is incredibly annoying. I once lost a game because the category was “Homophones for letters of the alphabet,” and apparently Americans pronounce “Eye” and “I” the same way, but the puzzle didn’t account for how weirdly they say “Zee” (Z).

If you see four short words that look like random nonsense DE, MD, PA, MA just assume it’s US Geography and click them. If you see JOY, RUTH, CLARK, MARS, and you don’t know who Clark is… it’s probably Candy Bars. When in doubt, assume the answer is something incredibly specific to New York City culture.

Shuffle is Your Best Friend

Our brains are lazy. If APPLE spawns next to BANANA, your brain locks into “Fruit Mode.” You physically cannot see any other option. But APPLE might actually belong to “Tech Companies” or “____ Bottom Jeans.”

Hit the Shuffle button constantly. Move the words around. Seeing APPLE next to MICROSOFT changes your entire perspective. Break the visual pattern, or the pattern will break your streak.

Just remember: If you have one guess left and the category is “Rhymes with Orange,” you’re on your own. Good luck.