NYT Connections Answers (April 20): Puzzle #1043 Too Hard For You? Check Hints, & Solution

The NYT Connections April 20 puzzle had smoke, fishing gear, spiders, and Monday phrases. Check all hints and the full solution here.

NYT Connections resets every day and has a loyal group of fans who love spotting patterns and testing their thinking skills.

Source : Screenshot/New York Times

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Key points generated by AI, verified by newsroom

• NYT Connections puzzle challenges players with four distinct word groups.
• Themes range from smoke shapes to fishing gear and spider associations.
• Difficulties increase from yellow to purple, including words before 'Monday'.
• The puzzle tests word association with potential for initial confusion.

NYT Connections: The New York Times’ daily puzzle, Connections, is back with its Monday, April 20 challenge, and today’s game is a mix of tricky words and clever themes. Players were given 16 words and asked to sort them into four hidden groups. At first, some words may look like they belong together, but the puzzle quickly tests how carefully you think. 

Like always, Connections resets daily and keeps players hooked with its fun but sometimes confusing patterns. If you got stuck today, here’s a simple and clear breakdown of the hints and answers.

What Is Connections And How Do You Play?

Connections is a daily word puzzle where you see 16 words. Your job is to group them into four sets of four. Each set shares one common idea or theme.

It may sound easy, but it’s not. Many words are designed to confuse you and make you think they belong in the same group when they actually don’t.

For example, “Hook,” “Nana,” “Peter,” and “Wendy” are all Peter Pan characters. Another example is “Action,” “Ballpark,” “Go,” and “Stick,” which all go before the word “Figure.”

You only get four wrong tries. If you make four mistakes, the game ends and shows the correct answers.

Each group also has a colour to show difficulty:

• Yellow (easiest)
• Green (easy)
• Blue (medium)
• Purple (hardest)

Sometimes the link is about meaning. Sometimes it is about how the word is used. That’s what makes Connections fun and challenging at the same time.

Hints And Full Solution To NYT Connections (April 20)

Here are today’s hints:

• Yellow: It rises and swirls in the air.
• Green: Cast a line!
• Blue: Not a friendly encounter.
• Purple: The week doesn't always start the same way!

Extra hints:

• One group is linked to a specific creature.
• Every group has at least one word with the letter “B.”

One word from each group to help you:

• Yellow: Plume
• Green: Rod
• Blue: Hourglass
• Purple: Meatless

Here are the groups for today:

• Yellow: Mass Of Smoke
• Green: Fishing Gear
• Blue: Associated With Black Widow Spiders
• Purple: ___ Monday

Full Solution for April 20:

• Yellow (Mass Of Smoke): Billow, Cloud, Plume, Puff
• Green (Fishing Gear): Bait, Hook, Net, Rod
• Blue (Associated With Black Widow Spiders): Hourglass, Cannibalism, Venom, Web
• Purple (___ Monday): Blue, Cyber, Manic, Meatless

Today’s puzzle was a fun mix of nature, animals, and everyday phrases. The yellow group was all about smoke-like shapes in the air, like clouds and plumes. The green group was easier if you thought about fishing tools like a hook and a rod.

The blue group was a bit scary, focusing on black widow spiders, with clues like venom and web. The purple group was all about phrases that come before “Monday,” like Blue Monday or Cyber Monday.

This puzzle was not the hardest, but it had some clever tricks that could easily confuse players at first glance.

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