The Puzzle is Back! Find the Musical Connections

It’s cold outside. Very cold. So unless you have to, why go out?

Instead of slithering on the ice outside, sit yourself down and play another round of our Connections Garme. Just like the New York Times game, the object is to take sixteen words and arrange them into 4 categories. What are the categories? That is for you to figure out! My one hint? At least some of the categories deal with music. Some words might just fit into more than one category, but there is only one way to get exactly 4 words into each of the 4 categories.

Here is the full puzzle

When you solve the puzzle, send me your solution at chidoc@post.com. You can send complaints there too! If you enter your results in Comments, please flag it as a spoiler. We don’t want to ruin anyone else’s fun.

Remember, solutions and complaints to me chidoc@post.com.

Let’s Connect With Rogers Park Again

It has been a few weeks since I invited you to try your hand at the version of the New York Times Connections puzzle I created especially for my friends in the Chicago neighborhood of Rogers Park. Hundreds of you tackled the puzzle, and many of you let me know that you had solved it. So it is time for Rogers Park Connections #2! Of course, anyone is welcome to play–no Rogers Park passport is required.

To review, the Connections puzzles test how well you can separate a group of random-appearing words into categories. I’ll give you 16 words, you divide them into 4 categories with 4 entries in each category. Once you solve the puzzle the Rogers Park Connection will be evident. To the best of my ability, I have created this puzzle so that there is one, and only one, correct solution.

Think you have figured it all out? Let me know at chidoc@post.com. Please DO NOT LEAVE YOUR ANSWER IN THE COMMENT OR REPLY FIELD. We don’t want any spoilers!

As Sherlock Holmes said to his companion “Elementary, my dear Watson. Elementary” ^*

Are you ready? Here are your 16 Words.

ACRE———-BOONE————GALE————SCHEME

COLLUSION—TYPHOON———PLOT————CONSPIRACY

CABAL———ARMSTRONG——HURRICANE—-PARCEL

KILMER———FIELD————–ROGERS———TORNADO

Have fun and let me know how you did at chidoc@post.com. And don’t forget, we welcome new subscribers.

^*I know Arthur Conan Doyle never wrote this line in an actual Sherlock Holmes story, but it WAS used in the 1929 film The Return of Sherlock Holmes.

It’s A Classic Rock Connection!

Hey there rock’n’rollers. I know you all are puzzle fans, right? You love drawing the lines from the Yardbirds to Cream and Air Force. And it’s fun to compare lists of your 14 favorite guitar solos of 1974. But have you been playing the CONNECTIONS game in the New York Times? Take 16 words and figure out how to separate them into 4 categories.

I have created a few CONNECTIONS games myself (sorry, NYT) including one dedicated to the great Chicago neighborhood of Rogers Park, and the other to Chicago’s north suburban Skokie. And now I have made one just for all the classic rockers out there.

How does it work? In the grid below you will find sixteen words. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, would be to divide the words into four categories. For example, if scattered around the grid you found the words Chrysler, Ford, Chevy, and Mercedes you might place them in an “Automobile” category. But be careful, because Ford could also fit into the category of “US Presidents”. The trick is to establish the correct categories so that each of those can have four members. It gets tricky!

My hint to you for today’s puzzle is that one of the four categories has a definite Classic Rock connection. Figure out that category and its four constituents, and the other categories should fall into place.

Here is the rockin’ connections puzzle. Remember, solutions and complaints to me chidoc@post.com.

Want to subscribe to our blog? It’s always something different. Enter your email address in the box below.