Players of the NYT Connections game were left fiercely divided over the October 16 puzzle.
In the game, people try to divide 16 words into four groups that share some kind of connection.
Its popularity has skyrocketed in recent months and, every day, thousands of people around the world log on to test their skills at solving the difficult word puzzle.
Many then take to social media to share their results and compare how quickly they were able to solve it with others.
But on Wednesday, people on the web seemed completely divided about the puzzle, with some calling it “quick” and “easy” and others calling it “impossible” and “challenging.”
Players of the NYT Connections game were fiercely divided over the Oct. 16 puzzle, with some calling it “quick” and “easy” and others calling it “impossible” and “challenging.”
One person even accused the creators of being “discriminatory” with one of the solutions.
Wednesday’s four word categories were: sometime in the future, parts of a tournament setup, pieces of breakfast cereal, and what extended index and middle fingers may represent.
The first group contained several different ways to describe a time in the near future, including eventually, later, soon, and soon.
The second was made up of different terms related to sporting events, such as bracket, bye, round and seed.
The third category of the October 16 puzzle had four words that had to do with famous cereals – including Cheerio, flake, pebble, puff pastry – while the final group was made up of words that by holding up two fingers can represent, such as peace, scissors, two, and victory.
Numerous players took to Reddit to share their thoughts on the puzzle after completing it, with many admitting they were confused about some of the answers.
‘Someone help me please. “I don’t understand (the last category) at all,” one user wrote.
‘And what do these things have to do with a tournament? It doesn’t make sense to me.
In the game, people try to divide 16 words into four groups that share some kind of connection.
Wednesday’s four categories were: sometime in the future, parts of a tournament setup, pieces of breakfast cereal and what extended index and middle fingers may represent.
‘How does “goodbye” fit into that category?’ another person asked.
“I think it’s like your opponent doesn’t show up and you have a ‘bye’ for the next round,” another user explained.
“Personally, I’m not very familiar with the term ‘bye’ when it comes to a tournament,” someone else confessed.
“I have no idea about cereal brands because it’s not something where I’m from,” read a fourth angry comment. “I also didn’t know ‘goodbye’ was used that way.”
“I’ve never heard of a Cheerio,” said a sixth, posted by someone based in New Zealand.
“I’m completely confused by the mix of brands and types (in the cereal category),” another person admitted.
“Flakes, flakes and pebbles are all types of cereal made by any brand, while Cheerios is a real brand.”
“I ruled out Cheerio as a cereal because it’s a specific brand and there’s no way they’d use a brand mixed with a bunch of generic types of cereal,” another frustrated player wrote.
They then called the game “discriminatory” because it often includes sports-related categories.
Numerous players took to Reddit to share their thoughts on the puzzle after completing it, with many admitting they were confused about some of the answers.
One person even accused the creators of being ‘discriminatory’ with one of the answers.
Others, however, defended the October 16 puzzle.
Just a day before, one of the categories was football positions.
“I’m starting to think this game is discriminatory against people who don’t play sports,” they continued.
“I don’t know what a seed is and I don’t really care enough to look for it.”
Others, however, defended the October 16 puzzle.
“Discriminatory is a very harsh and frankly incorrect word here,” someone else responded.
“I had problems with green too, but I don’t know the sports trivia; I don’t blame this particular game.”
“Quick, easy,” another user wrote, while a third added: “I really enjoyed this puzzle.” Challenging, but solvable.’
“Pretty simple,” another person praised.
Connections, which launched last year, is the New York Times’ second most popular game behind Wordle.
Everdeen Mason, editorial director of the Times’s Games section, said voice earlier this year He doesn’t mind “grumpy” players who get frustrated by how difficult it is.
“My job here is to deceive you,” he confessed at the time.
