Puzzle fans are hooked on Connections, the latest word game from the New York Times that launched in June 2023, following the success of Wordle. The premise of the Connections game is deceivingly simple: from a grid of 16 words, find four groups of four that each have something in common. So why does this game spark so much delight and frustration among players? To solve Connections puzzles, players need to draw on different aspects of word knowledge like a word’s meaning, grammar (e.g. a noun or verb), and how the word is spelled or pronounced. This information is stored in what cognitive sci…
