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Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →NYT Connections #384, published Saturday, June 29, 2024, uses four themes: homophones, words meaning “connect,” terms for being placed down, and words that become familiar compounds with flower. If you want to solve it yourself, use the spoiler-safe hints first; the complete groups and explanations follow.
Spoiler-safe hints for Connections #384
These clues point toward the categories without giving away every word grouping:
- They all sound alike: Look for four spellings that share one pronunciation.
- Put together in some way: Four words can mean join, link or marry.
- Past-tense words: Consider words describing something being put or positioned down.
- They can all share the same second word: Add flower after each word.
The 16 words in the June 29 grid
The puzzle presents these words for sorting:
SAT, MAY, TO, SUN, WALL, WED, PUT, COUPLE, TWO, TIE, TUE, LAID, TOO, WILD, PLACED, UNITE
Connections #384 answers
Spoilers begin here. The complete solution is four groups of four:
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#1 Best Overall
| Category | Words | Why they fit |
|---|---|---|
| Homophones | TO, TOO, TUE, TWO | Each is pronounced the same as the others, despite different spellings and meanings. |
| Connect | COUPLE, TIE, UNITE, WED | Each word can mean to join or connect; wed also means marry. |
| Placed down | LAID, PLACED, PUT, SAT | Each can describe something being positioned down or someone taking a seated position. |
| ___ flower | MAY, SUN, WALL, WILD | They form mayflower, sunflower, wallflower and wildflower. |
How to see the trick in this puzzle
Separate the day-of-the-week decoys
TUE, WED, SAT and SUN look like an obvious set of abbreviated weekdays. That apparent group is the puzzle’s major red herring: TUE belongs with TO, TOO and TWO, while WED belongs with COUPLE, TIE and UNITE, and SUN belongs in the flower compounds. SAT is used in the placed-down category.
Use the most distinctive words first
PLACED strongly suggests the “placed down” category, and COUPLE points toward joining. WILD becomes much more useful when tested before another short word: wildflower reveals the compound-word group.
Rank #2
Check the remaining short words by sound and meaning
Once the obvious semantic groups are formed, TO, TOO, TUE and TWO stand out as a pronunciation set. In Connections, spelling differences are often intentional, so say candidate words aloud rather than relying only on visual similarity.
Connections rules that matter here
- The board contains 16 words that must be divided into four groups of four.
- You can make up to four incorrect guesses before the game ends.
- Category colors indicate difficulty: yellow is generally the easiest, while purple is generally the most difficult.
For this grid, the homophone set is the yellow-style straightforward discovery, while the “___ flower” group is the more indirect compound-word connection.
Where to play
Connections #384 is the June 29, 2024 puzzle in the New York Times Games version of Connections.
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