Games Like Connections

Games like Connections start from words or letters you can already see, then ask for the hidden structure. Connections shows sixteen words and wants four groups of four, with four mistakes before the puzzle ends. Strands hides theme words in a grid and then asks for one spanning word. Spelling Bee and Letter Boxed hand you the letters and ask you to spend them. Waffle shows a broken word square and counts swaps. Wordle, Quordle, and Semantle hide the answer and score the guess. None of these is a second Connections board. The Times puzzle stays on the Times.

• Strands

  Words

  Theme words in a grid, then one spanning word that has to use the leftovers.

  Find the theme words hidden in a letter grid, then the spanning word that ties them.

• Spelling Bee

  Words

  Seven letters are showing. The center letter has to appear in every word.

  Make words from seven letters. Every word must use the center letter.

• Letter Boxed

  Words

  The letters sit on a square, and each word has to chain to the next side.

  Chain words around a square of letters until every letter has been used.

• Waffle

  Words

  Every letter is visible. You swap until each row and column is a word.

  Swap letters in a grid until each row and column is a word. You have a limited number of swaps.

• Wordle

  Words

  The words are hidden. Color, not a group, tells you what to try next.

  Guess the five-letter word in six tries. Each guess marks letters as hit, present, or absent.

• Quordle

  Words

  Four hidden words take the same guess, which is the opposite of sorting a visible board.

  Solve four five-letter words at once. A guess is played on every board.

• Semantle

  Words

  One hidden meaning, scored by distance, with no groups to name.

  Guess the secret word. Each guess is ranked by how close its meaning is.

• The Mini

  Words

  Clues instead of a pile of words, and a small grid that fills in.

  A small crossword with a fresh grid each day. It is built to be finished in a few minutes.

Play Connections on the official site. The Connections guide stays on DleBox.