The Friday Connections is out. Puzzle #1,237 is below, from a gentle read of the board to the complete colour-coded answer, with every spoiler kept behind a click.
Our read of the board: two of the category names are long, which tends to mean a specific, lateral theme. As always, the purple group is the one built to mislead; if you see an obvious category of five or six words, that is the trap.
Today's board
The sixteen words, in the order they appear on the board. No spoilers here.
DEMONPITHANDSWINGSSHUTTERGLUMCURTAINSHADEDRAPEFLASHRUGGRANGELENSPILLOWBACKDROPVIEWFINDER
Hints for today's Connections
Three levels of help. Level one nudges, level two points, level three names the categories one at a time.
Level 1 · The categories, by first letterYellow: starts with P, 4 wordsGreen: starts with A, 4 wordsBlue: starts with T, one wordPurple: starts with F, 5 words
Level 2 · One word from each groupYellow contains FLASHGreen contains CURTAINBlue contains RUGPurple contains GRANGE
Level 3 · The category namesYellow category
PARTS OF A CAMERA
Green category
AROUND A THEATER STAGE
Blue category
THROW ___
Purple category
FRUIT WITH FIRST LETTER CHANGED
Today's Connections answers
The full solution to Connections #1,237 is behind the button, yellow to purple. Nothing is shown until you click.
▶ Reveal the answers to Connections #1,237
PARTS OF A CAMERA
FLASH, LENS, SHUTTER, VIEWFINDER
Yellow · the most straightforward group
AROUND A THEATER STAGE
BACKDROP, CURTAIN, PIT, WINGS
Green · usually a step harder
THROW ___
HANDS, PILLOW, RUG, SHADE
Blue · where the red herrings start to bite
FRUIT WITH FIRST LETTER CHANGED
DEMON, DRAPE, GLUM, GRANGE
Purple · the trickiest, often wordplay
Yesterday's Connections
Connections #1,236 on Thursday, October 29 had these four groups (our full write-up is still up):
THINGS YOU PUT COINS INTOPARKING METER, PAYPHONE, PIGGY BANK, WISHING WELL
ASSOCIATED WITH PENGUINSANTARCTICA, EMPEROR, TUXEDO, WADDLE
ENDS OF FAMOUS FONTSGOTHIC, ROMAN, SANS, TYPEWRITER
THINGS THAT FEATURE THREE COLORSCALICO, CANDY CORN, NEAPOLITAN, TRAFFIC LIGHT
How Connections works
Sixteen words hide four groups of four that share something in common. Pick four, submit, and the row locks in if you are right; four wrong submissions end the game. The groups are colour-coded by difficulty, yellow being the most direct and purple the most devious, and most boards include at least one word that could plausibly sit in two groups. Today's puzzle was edited by Wyna Liu at The New York Times.
A reliable habit: before submitting anything, find the five or six words that seem to belong to one obvious category and work out which of them is the imposter. Solving the strange group first is often easier than solving the obvious one.
That is Friday's board. If purple got you, you are in good company; see you tomorrow for #1,238.