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Connections #696 was published on Wednesday, May 7, 2025. Its four groups are about healing, exclusion, Tarot suits, and gemstone names heard aloud. The complete answers are below.
Connections #696 answer grid
| Category | Four answers | Why they belong together |
|---|---|---|
| Get better, as a broken bone | HEAL, KNIT, MEND, RECOVER | Each can describe healing or recovery. Here, KNIT refers to a broken bone joining as it heals. |
| Not including | BESIDES, BUT, EXCEPT, SAVE | In the relevant prepositional uses, each can mean “other than” or “excluding.” |
| Tarot Minor Arcana suits | CUPS, PENTACLES, SWORDS, WANDS | These are the four suits in the puzzle’s Tarot category. |
| Homophones of gemstones | CHORAL, OPEL, PURL, QUARTS | Say them aloud: they sound like CORAL, OPAL, PEARL, and QUARTZ. |
How to see the Connections categories
Start with the recognizable named set
The Tarot terms make a clear group once you recognize the suit names. This is a useful first foothold because it depends on identifying a set, rather than stretching a word’s meaning.
Test the exclusion words in context
The “not including” category is less obvious if you consider the words in isolation. Try each in a sentence where it means “excluding”; that exposes the shared prepositional use.
Read the healing clue closely
The phrase “as a broken bone” narrows the sense of “get better.” It signals that KNIT is about a bone joining as it heals, not knitting with yarn.
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Use sound, not spelling, for the last set
The gemstone connection is phonetic: the entries’ spellings differ from the gemstone names, but their spoken forms are alike. Saying the words aloud is a better check than looking for a visual pattern.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What makes this grid tricky
Two groups hinge on context: KNIT takes a specialized healing sense, while SAVE belongs with exclusion words in its prepositional use. The gemstone group works by pronunciation rather than spelling. Those shifts—from familiar meanings to a specific sense or sound-alike—are the main reasons the grid can resist an immediate sort.
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