How to Solve Puzzle Number 1123 Fast

The New York Times’ Connections puzzle returned Wednesday with its 1,123rd edition, a grid that puzzle trackers widely described as one of the trickier challenges of the week, built around a deliberate web of overlapping themes involving woodworking, literature, guitar technique and classic phrase completion.

Connections, edited by Wyna Liu, asks players to sort 16 words into four groups of four based on a shared theme, with categories color-coded by difficulty from yellow, the easiest, through green and blue, up to purple, typically the most conceptually demanding. Players are allowed four incorrect guesses before the puzzle ends, and the game has grown into one of the Times’ most widely played daily offerings, trailing only Wordle in overall popularity among the publication’s expanding suite of word and logic games.

Wednesday’s grid featured the following 16 words: GRATE, PLANE, SHAVE, SLIVER, DRIFT, PLOT, THEME, THREAD, PICK, PLUCK, STRUM, TAP, CARDS, LORDS, WAX and WORSHIP. According to multiple outlets that covered the puzzle, the grid was constructed with an unusually high density of deliberate misdirection, with several words plausibly fitting more than one category depending on how a solver initially interpreted them.

For those seeking a nudge before diving into the full solution, outlets circulated general hints without revealing the specific groupings. The yellow category was described as referring to verbs or tools that produce very thin pieces of something. The green category was hinted at as words describing a recurring or central idea within a work, often in a literary or narrative sense. The blue category was described as four different ways to make sound on a stringed instrument. The purple category, as usual the trickiest of the four, was hinted at as words that commonly follow the phrase “House of.”

For players ready for the complete answers, puzzle number 1,123 broke down as follows.

The yellow category, titled “Cut Into Thin Pieces,” included GRATE, PLANE, SHAVE and SLIVER. Each word describes an action or tool associated with reducing something into thin slices or shavings, whether grating cheese, planing wood, shaving a surface, or slivering an ingredient. Puzzle commentary described this group as a relatively accessible entry point, with GRATE in particular helping many solvers quickly recognize the underlying pattern.

The green category, titled “Motif,” grouped together DRIFT, PLOT, THEME and THREAD. Each of these words can describe a recurring idea, narrative element or central concept running through a work of literature, film or other storytelling medium. Puzzle trackers flagged this category as particularly deceptive, noting that THREAD in particular tempts solvers to interpret it literally, in a sewing or textile sense, rather than recognizing its figurative use to describe a narrative thread running through a story. Similarly, PLOT can easily mislead players toward associations with land, gardening or scheming rather than its narrative meaning, unless a solver has already identified THEME as part of the same group.

The blue category, “Guitar-Playing Techniques,” included PICK, PLUCK, STRUM and TAP. Each word describes a distinct method of producing sound on a stringed instrument. Commentary on the puzzle noted that PLANE and TAP in particular served as effective red herrings elsewhere in the grid, with PLANE misleading solvers toward an aircraft association rather than its correct placement in the yellow “thin pieces” category, and TAP tempting players to think of a faucet or a light touch rather than its correct guitar-technique meaning.

The purple category, the day’s most difficult, was titled “House of ___” and featured CARDS, LORDS, WAX and WORSHIP. Each word completes a familiar two-word phrase when paired with “House of”: House of Cards, House of Lords, House of Wax, and House of Worship. Commentary on the puzzle noted that CARDS and LORDS tend to be recognized relatively quickly given their strong association with well-known phrases, while WAX and WORSHIP proved less immediately obvious unless a solver was already actively thinking in terms of phrase completion.

One columnist covering the puzzle for TechRadar described completing the grid with a single mistake, explaining that they had initially grouped THREAD, SHAVE, WAX and PLUCK together under the mistaken assumption that all four related to methods of hair removal, a red herring the columnist described as particularly cleverly constructed given how naturally those four words fit that alternate theme. After recognizing the error, the columnist noted they were able to solve the remaining three categories with relative ease, though they admitted some hesitation over correctly placing TAP within the guitar-technique group.

Puzzle trackers broadly agreed that Wednesday’s grid rewarded patience over speed, given the sheer number of words capable of plausibly fitting into more than one category. Coverage from Eastern Herald noted that several words appeared to fit woodworking, literary or musical themes simultaneously, making the puzzle one of the trickier entries of the week even for experienced solvers accustomed to spotting the game’s typical patterns of misdirection.

According to general strategy guidance the Times has offered for the game, players tend to find the most success by first identifying categories that feel clearly and unambiguously defined, since building early momentum with confident correct guesses can help maintain focus heading into trickier groupings. Solvers are also encouraged to consider alternate or figurative meanings of individual words, since Connections puzzles are deliberately constructed to include significant overlap between categories, a pattern once again on full display in Wednesday’s grid.

Connections continues to draw a devoted daily following since its official launch in June 2023, with new puzzles released at midnight in each player’s local time zone. That schedule means solvers around the world are often working through different numbered editions of the game at any given moment, a quirk that has become a familiar part of the daily routine for the puzzle’s global player base.

With Wednesday’s puzzle now resolved, attention turns to Thursday’s edition, puzzle number 1,124, set to go live at midnight in each player’s respective time zone. As with previous days, puzzle trackers and columnists covering the game are expected to publish a fresh round of hints and eventual answers for that edition as players around the world continue their daily routines of guessing, deducing and working to preserve their personal Connections solving streaks.