Context is key for today's Connections puzzle, with categories organized based on how words are represented rather than what they mean. I found that the challenge today was not identifying the multiple meanings of words, but rather what they implied through vastly different patterns. There are a few tricks and, of course, vague pairings between words that can make the puzzle difficult to solve compared to previous days.

Unlike straightforward games like NYT's Letter Boxed, today's Connections puzzle relies more on understand all the contexts one of its words might be associated with. Adjectives, number codes, and informal definitions are the theme of today's puzzle, leaving multiple hints for you to pick up on. As always, you have four chances to make a mistake before you lose, so don't be afraid to take your time.

Today's Connections Category Hints

April 19 #678

I found today's theme to be informal definitions, making it hard to know what words are describing without some sort of linked similarities. To help yourself find the right solutions, try thinking about all the ways a word is used in different contexts rather than imagining what nouns or verbs they normally would be. Don't be afraid to look up some of the phrases from today's puzzle to gather all the contexts you can find.

If you're struggling to figure out what some categories might be for today's puzzle, try following these useful hints:

• One category is about things related to words used to describe talking in front of a crowd.
• One category is about things used to describe the landscape of places with very little water.
• One category is about things used to define the breed of man's best friend.
• One category is about things represented through numbers as well as letters.

If you want to go all out with some of your clue-searching, you should look at the category names to get some extra help. There are also spoilers for each category if you find yourself needing to solve a single category to finish up.

Today's Connections Answers

April 19 #678

Yellow Answers: Revealed & Explained

This part of the puzzle was simple at first, as TALK and SPEECH are very natural pairings to one another. However, LECTURE and INTRO CLASS could be perceived as words under the same context, until you look at the word ADDRESS. The words in this puzzle section are meant to represent the act of speaking rather than the context of where speeches happen, a fact that helped me find the right solution.

Green Answers: Revealed & Explained

DRY and HOT are pretty straightforward words that I put together as soon as I started today's puzzle, but finding the right context for the rest of it was a bit of a struggle. Many places or things could be dry and hot, but very few are VAST. The size of a hot and dry place helps define what this category is about, as you realize that a SANDY desert can be a huge landscape that is naturally hot and dry all the time.

Blue Answers: Revealed & Explained

This category reveals its context in an unorthodox way, but only if you put the words LAB and GOLDEN together first. A Golden Labrador ("Lab") or Golden Retriever are two different types of dog breeds, one of which of my family had while growing up. This gave me the right clue I needed to solve the rest of the puzzle, as BULLY and CHOW are both informal for certain types of dogs.

Purple Answers: Revealed & Explained

This was the most difficult part of the puzzle for me, as I could not come up with any reason for why these final words connected. That being said, you have to today's theme with informal definitions, and how these words are used in other contexts. Realizing that JAMES BOND is represented by the moniker 007, DEVIL has 666 associated with it, and an INTRO CLASS always starts as 101, should lead you to the solution.

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