'Connections' Hints April 15: Today's Clues and Answers for Game #309

If you're struggling with today's Connections puzzle, Newsweek is here with some handy hints to help you over the finish line.

The game was launched by The New York Times in June 2023, and has quickly gone on to be a viral success. It is now the news outlet's second most-played brainteaser after the hugely popular word game Wordle.

While Wordle, which was created by Josh Wardle, requires players to find one word a day, Connections challenges players to find common threads between a series of words. Players must group them and name the categories.

Like Wordle, the new game can be played online on web browsers and mobile devices.

How To Play 'Connections'

Each puzzle consists of 16 words, with each group of words separated into four categories. The uniting themes are from a broad range of categories.

If all four words are correctly placed into each set, those words will be removed from the board. Each incorrect guess counts toward the mistake tally. Players can make up to four mistakes before the game ends.

Should it make the process of guessing the connections easier, players can shuffle and rearrange the board.

The board also has a color-coding system representing levels of difficulty. Yellow represents the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. A group's color will only be revealed once they have been correctly connected.

Above is a stock image of a man playing a game on his mobile phone. "The New York Times'" newest game, "Connections," has taken the internet by storm. iStock/Getty Images Plus

To make the task even trickier, sometimes a word can belong to more than one category—but there is only one correct answer.

Connections editor Wyna Liu has advised that if you notice that there are five or more words that belong to one category, try pivoting to a different category before making your first guess.

"Doing so might take one of those extra cards out of contention, or at least remove a few cards from the board, making other categories easier to see," Liu said.

The answers for today's Connections will be revealed at the end of this article, so please scroll down with caution if you want to work them out for yourself.

'Connections' #309 Clues for Monday, April 15

Newsweek has shared hints to help you figure out today's Connections categories.

Yellow: These words are associated with impromptu actions.

Green: For these words, think of the early stages of life.

Blue: These words are associated with lacking depth.

Purple: Each of these words precedes popular terms.

'Connections' #309 Answers for Monday, April 15

Yellow Category: INVENT AS YOU GO

Yellow Words: Ad-Lib, Freestyle, Improv, Make Up

Green Category: THINGS BABIES DO

Green Words: Babble, Coo, Crawl, Nurse

Blue Category: SUPERFICIAL

Blue Words: Cosmetic, External, Shallow, Surface

Purple Category: __EFFECT

Purple Words: Butterfly, Domino, Placebo, Side

Did you guess the answers correctly? If so, congratulations. If not, there will be another opportunity to crack the puzzle tomorrow.

Connections is released at midnight in your local time zone. Newsweek will be back with another round of hints and tips for each new game.