The New York Times is getting into the spirit of the World Cup in several ways. One of those is with a special, soccer-themed edition of Connections. (I hate referring to it as “soccer,” so I’ll be calling it by its proper name of football wherever possible from here on out.)
As with the other editions of Connections, this is a daily game that goes live in your neck of the woods at midnight local time. It’ll run through the duration of the World Cup, ending with the tournament final on July 19. As with the sports version of the game, Connections: Soccer Edition has an optional timer. Will Jeanes, a senior editor at The Athletic who focuses on football, created this edition.
It works the same way as the other versions of Connections. There are 16 words (or phrases or even symbols) to arrange into four categories. There’s only one correct answer and probably at least one red herring in each game. You can make three mistakes, but if you make a fourth one, it’s a red card and an early bath. If you have an NYT account, you can track your stats as well.
“You won’t need to be a soccer (or football, depending on where you are from) fanatic to play, enjoy and solve these puzzles though — far from it,” Jeanes wrote. “The game is accessible for even the most casual fans, though the experts will still enjoy testing themselves against the timer and their family and friends.”
Connections Now Has Three Editions
I adore the original Connections. I write a handy hints column for the game every single day, as well as an explainer of the answers and red herring(s) most days.
Connections: Sports Edition never quite hit the mark for me, though. As much as I enjoy sports in general – I’ve been getting into baseball lately – that version of the game has far too many niche references to U.S. sports (particularly the college system that I know very little about) for me to enjoy it all the time.
Connections: Soccer Edition is a different kettle of fish. Football is easily my favorite sport and trivia related to the beautiful game is very much within my wheelhouse.
I don’t think I’ll be writing a daily column for this one since I’m trying to pare back my workload. However, I’ll definitely be playing this edition every day during the World Cup, which of course my beloved Scotland are going to win.
I didn’t switch on the timer while solving the first puzzle, but I was able to finish it in about 45 seconds. I even lucked into a reverse rainbow on this one:
Connections: Soccer Edition #1
Today’s solve rate: 62%
🟣🟣🟣🟣
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🟢🟢🟢🟢
🟡🟡🟡🟡
Now, when are we going to get movie- and video game-themed versions of Connections?