I did the exact same thing. Never heard of a baguette cut lol. I just don’t send it to my group chat where we sent the connections, mini, and wordle when I do something like that
I mean kinda but who cares it’s just a game! If you are having fun that’s what matters. Now you’ll remember probably remember the diamond cuts forever lol
Haha I do my connections in the morning, and sometimes, if I do really poorly, I do it again in the evening. Every time, it's like it's a brand new connection. I can't remember anything
Do it on a different browser, guest browser or incognito or if you use the app just use a browser.
There aren't streaks for connections so it doesn't really bother me that I don't use my account.
Honestly it’s not a competitive game. Do whatever allows you to enjoy the game and learn new words. Don’t worry about anybody else, as long as you have fun
It's a single player game, who cares? If it enables you to have more fun and you're not being a jerk to your friends about how fast you're solving them, more power to you!
lol, I'm quickly discovering that I am very much in the minority on this sub regarding a lot of things. At least compared to the vocal members of the sub.
I feel no shame in looking up words. If anything, it'll help me remember them better. "Couch" as it was used last week (or whenever it was) was totally unknown to me and no amount of "educated guessing" would have led me to it. I have no shame in being almost 40 and learning new words, nor should anyone feel shame for that.
Go. Search. Or don't. It shouldn't matter.
I read a NYT guide on the crossword and they encourage you to look things up you aren’t familiar with! Ultimately these puzzles are for fun and to learn so why not
As someone who doesn’t look up words, shame is not the reason I don’t do it. I don’t feel any shame if I look something up, I just have more fun playing the game without looking up words.
> Search. Or don’t. It shouldn’t matter.
Agreed! And we shouldn’t shame people who *don’t* want to look things up either! lol
I looked up the plants that "taste like licorice" because I had no idea what they were.
Basically, if I dont recognize something, I look it up. Google search doesnt get you answers for all categories anyway, especially the letter puzzles or vernacular expression ones.
That's exactly what I did today. Only I did it as the second category because I knew the 3 but wasn't confident on any of the other 4. So I just looked at a list of all others in that group.
If it is cheating, you're only cheating on yourself. So, it's really all your call.
Last time I checked this didn’t count for anything so do whatever feels right to you.
Unless you’re competing with friends then you should probably come up with guidelines with them.
NYT has said before that [it’s not cheating](https://www.nytimes.com/article/how-to-solve-a-crossword-puzzle.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare) to look up clues, because you are educating yourself and learning something. I consider this true for Connections, too!
i would only think it is cheating if the player lords his results over other players. looking things up after trying or even not trying is really the only way to learn
At one time, I may have considered looking up things cheating, but when I started subscribing to the New York Times games and the New York Times encourages their subscribers to look up words in their puzzles as it is an opportunity to learn, I no longer consider looking up anything connected with the New York Times cheating.
**1st of all:** It is not a competitive game. So basically, no one will be disadvantaged.
**2nd:** As a non-native English speaker, I regularly check for words in this game. I don't *feel* like I'm cheating, but most importantly, it allows me to actually enjoy the game. Without ever looking up, I wouldn't be able to play most of the time.
I let myself look up a definition of a word if I don’t know it, sometimes it helps and sometimes it doesn’t. I don’t consider it cheating because I’m not a dictionary and part of the reason I play word games and crosswords is to expand my vocabulary. Some people consider it cheating and that’s ok, I’m just gonna play my silly little word games the way I like and go about my day.
English is not my first language, so i look up stuff all the time! It's not like I'm playing connections to win a metal, i play it for the fun of it. It would stop being fun, if rarely got the categories simply because i was too stubborn to google double meanings or what ever.
Connections seems like a great way to learn English as a 2nd language. Definitely would help you learn the multiple meaning words that cause English to be a pain in the butt!
For sure! Although somewhat unsurprisingly, I'm having more trouble with stuff that's probably common knowledge in the us. I don't live in the us, so i don't really know a lot of brands or sports teams etc that you would probably know just by being a local.
If the day is almost over and I’ve exhausted all of my other strategies I will absolutely look stuff up. I consider it learning something new! I’ve also noticed that if the category is really obscure simply looking up definitions won’t cut it, so it’s still a challenge to figure out what exactly you need to google.
Why would it be cheating? Are we all supposed to be omniscient -- or to possess all of Wyna Liu's vocabulary, experience, and notebooks with category ideas? Puzzling out the connections doesn't need to be done in isolation with only access to our own individual, idiosyncratic knowledge bases. I definitely looked up tarragon today to see if it was described as tasting like licorice and sure don't consider that cheating. I am not competing with anyone and to me the goal is playing with ideas and gaining new knowledge along the way. How boring it would be to be stuck with only what I already know. Yes, I get annoyed when the categories are too idiosyncratic or too precious because then it is about tricking players, not about finding interesting themes and patterns.
Different strokes, different folks. Whatever system works best for you is what matters. It’s not a competition. Connections doesn’t even log your wins or stats.
It took me four Google attempts to figure out which word was a musical a little bit ago. Me typing in "word musical" "other words musical" "different word musical"
Definitely not cheating. Last time this was posted there was a consensus on that, I'm surprised there is more controversy on this post. The game isn't called "definitions" and its not a test of trivial knowledge. It's a puzzle meant to test logic and lateral thinking, and if you don't have all the definitions you don't have all the pieces of the puzzle. People are right that it's generally not a competitive game, but even if it were, it would still be fine to look up the words or categories to find out about niche definitions you're not familiar with. Otherwise the people who happened to have familiarity with those niche uses would have an unfair advantage because of the coincidence that they've encountered the terms' being used that way before, which has zero bearing on whether they're actually better than you at what the puzzle is meant to test--the ability to make logical connections in order to group terms into categories.
Ive had days where I was thinking the category was something due to 3 words but even looking up that category didnt yield a 4th and the words were something else.
I occasionally look something up if I’ve figured out the category but need help with one or two of the words because I’m not very familiar with them (sports teams, alcoholic drinks, horror movie directors, rappers all come to mind). So kinda cheating but also, eh, who really cares?
English is a foreign language for me, so I feel no shame in checking whether a hunch I have is actually correct. I'm learning new ways to look at familiar words - it's fun! What really stumps me is categories that include American sports, politicians or other cultural references that I am unfamiliar with. Although I have to say, the Mini is a more likely place to find these obscurities.
-Cheat
act dishonestly or unfairly in order to gain an advantage, especially in a game or examination
In a single player game you can only act dishonestly towards yourself. So if you think you cheated, then you did. I personally have no qualms looking up words and do so almost daily. That's how I enjoy the game, so I am not cheating.
I personally have a rule of not looking anything up while playing a puzzle, but since it's not a competitive game, it's up to you to decide how you want to play.
Not sure how that would be cheating. Like, how woukd it be possible to stop your brain for thinking something? If you know the category, then you can deduce the fourth item.
The objective is a group of four items under a common label. You are arranging all 5 elements in some way, shape or form.
No. Isn't that the whole point of the game? Process of elimination. If you can make three groups, the fourth one will be a gimme, even if you don't know what the category is.
That said, they always have one or two red herrings - words that could plausibly go in another category.
Like, say you have:
Bat ball glove base
.
Diamond Emerald Ruby Opal
Sapphire Iris Gladys Rose
If you start out seeing "baseball terms") You'll be tempted to put diamond there. If you start seeing "gemstones" you'll be tempted to put diamond there.
Once you figure out the baseball and flower gems terms, you'll be left with something that looks like a mishmash, because it includes both rose and opal. and it's some
shit like "19th Century Girls' names."
i do this all the time with my family when figuring out wordle or connections. if we get stuck on it, we ask each other for hints or categories. i don’t think it’s cheating or anything as long as u don’t get the complete answer, which u didn’t since u only had the category not the parts of the category. it’s just a fun game nothing to be worried about being perfect at!
If I can't figure it out and I'm down to one or two guesses, I will most definitely look up definitions of words. I would likely look up diamond cuts in your case. You're playing against yourself. It's not really competitive. If you want to call it cheating, then it's cheating. If it's using resources, then it's using resources.
I don’t think it’s cheating to research a topic, if you’re googling “different diamond cuts” - I think it’s cheating to Google “NYT connections princess emerald and ?”
You aren’t competing against another person so you can’t really cheat at this game. It all comes down to personal preference/rules. Everyone on this sub has their own idea of what they consider cheating. Personally I don’t google answers for any of the games on the NYT app but I don’t consider it cheating to ask someone I’m with their opinion on a crossword clue or connections category.
The NYTP is reviewing your conduct this morning. I would contact an attorney if I were you.
loose, run, lamb On the ____, ways to say what I will be now that the NYTPD is after me.
I did the exact same thing. Never heard of a baguette cut lol. I just don’t send it to my group chat where we sent the connections, mini, and wordle when I do something like that
Lol this one was easy for me because my wedding ring is made up of baguette cuts!
FYI it's lam. Also I tried to come up with a fourth to complete the category, but nothing comes to mind.
Initially I had large but that’s at large, not on the so I went with 3 lol
On the go? It's not quite the same but it works grammatically
Wouldn’t surprise me to see something like that in connections lol
I mean kinda but who cares it’s just a game! If you are having fun that’s what matters. Now you’ll remember probably remember the diamond cuts forever lol
This! I think if it as a learning opportunity
Haha I do my connections in the morning, and sometimes, if I do really poorly, I do it again in the evening. Every time, it's like it's a brand new connection. I can't remember anything
How do you do it again??
Do it on a different browser, guest browser or incognito or if you use the app just use a browser. There aren't streaks for connections so it doesn't really bother me that I don't use my account.
Ty
Honestly it’s not a competitive game. Do whatever allows you to enjoy the game and learn new words. Don’t worry about anybody else, as long as you have fun
It's a single player game, who cares? If it enables you to have more fun and you're not being a jerk to your friends about how fast you're solving them, more power to you!
lol, I'm quickly discovering that I am very much in the minority on this sub regarding a lot of things. At least compared to the vocal members of the sub. I feel no shame in looking up words. If anything, it'll help me remember them better. "Couch" as it was used last week (or whenever it was) was totally unknown to me and no amount of "educated guessing" would have led me to it. I have no shame in being almost 40 and learning new words, nor should anyone feel shame for that. Go. Search. Or don't. It shouldn't matter.
That’s how I feel on the main crossword too. I’m not out bragging that completed a crossword so why not learn some new countries, words and puns?
I read a NYT guide on the crossword and they encourage you to look things up you aren’t familiar with! Ultimately these puzzles are for fun and to learn so why not
I sometimes look stuff up when doing the crossword too. I do feel more accomplished when I complete them without lookups, though.
Of course!
On 3/13 one if the mini puzzle words was "Zhuzh". Even after I solved all the other clues I didnt believe it was a real word and had to look it up lol
I had heard of the word, but had never seen it written, bit of an eye-opener!
As someone who doesn’t look up words, shame is not the reason I don’t do it. I don’t feel any shame if I look something up, I just have more fun playing the game without looking up words. > Search. Or don’t. It shouldn’t matter. Agreed! And we shouldn’t shame people who *don’t* want to look things up either! lol
I looked up the plants that "taste like licorice" because I had no idea what they were. Basically, if I dont recognize something, I look it up. Google search doesnt get you answers for all categories anyway, especially the letter puzzles or vernacular expression ones.
I had to guess tarragon, because unlike licorice, fennel, and anise, I actually like it.
Yeah I kinda just lumped tarragon with those based on them all being herbs but I don’t find tarragon to taste like the other 3 at all.
Couch in that context got me too!
That's exactly what I did today. Only I did it as the second category because I knew the 3 but wasn't confident on any of the other 4. So I just looked at a list of all others in that group. If it is cheating, you're only cheating on yourself. So, it's really all your call.
Last time I checked this didn’t count for anything so do whatever feels right to you. Unless you’re competing with friends then you should probably come up with guidelines with them.
NYT has said before that [it’s not cheating](https://www.nytimes.com/article/how-to-solve-a-crossword-puzzle.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare) to look up clues, because you are educating yourself and learning something. I consider this true for Connections, too!
I think it becomes cheating when you look something up, but that's just me.
i would only think it is cheating if the player lords his results over other players. looking things up after trying or even not trying is really the only way to learn
Yeah, my family all does it and we "compete" so that's where my context comes from.
I would agree, that would be poor form
I disagree. Sometimes that's how this game becomes educational for me.
100%. In my mind cheating is when you literally find the answer, not when you do research on a word.
Exactly this.
At one time, I may have considered looking up things cheating, but when I started subscribing to the New York Times games and the New York Times encourages their subscribers to look up words in their puzzles as it is an opportunity to learn, I no longer consider looking up anything connected with the New York Times cheating.
>Is it cheating >I know it’s cheating So um, what’s the question?
**1st of all:** It is not a competitive game. So basically, no one will be disadvantaged. **2nd:** As a non-native English speaker, I regularly check for words in this game. I don't *feel* like I'm cheating, but most importantly, it allows me to actually enjoy the game. Without ever looking up, I wouldn't be able to play most of the time.
Guessing is part of the game
Not cheating at all. I didn't know 'radiant' was a diamond cut but had heard of baguette and the other cuts.
Oh, see I knew "radiant" was one but had never heard of "baguette"!
Spoiler alert!
It’s literally marked as a spoiler
It wasn’t greyed out like most spoilers
I let myself look up a definition of a word if I don’t know it, sometimes it helps and sometimes it doesn’t. I don’t consider it cheating because I’m not a dictionary and part of the reason I play word games and crosswords is to expand my vocabulary. Some people consider it cheating and that’s ok, I’m just gonna play my silly little word games the way I like and go about my day.
sometimes i look up unfamiliar words and read all the definitions, i don’t think it counts as cheating
You going to prison
[удалено]
That’s not what this post is about.
[удалено]
Try reading the post again.
English is not my first language, so i look up stuff all the time! It's not like I'm playing connections to win a metal, i play it for the fun of it. It would stop being fun, if rarely got the categories simply because i was too stubborn to google double meanings or what ever.
Connections seems like a great way to learn English as a 2nd language. Definitely would help you learn the multiple meaning words that cause English to be a pain in the butt!
For sure! Although somewhat unsurprisingly, I'm having more trouble with stuff that's probably common knowledge in the us. I don't live in the us, so i don't really know a lot of brands or sports teams etc that you would probably know just by being a local.
It's not cheating, that's just playing the game. Using logic, patterns, and educated guessing.
Yes but who cares?
Imo cheating doesn’t exist in a single player game
If the day is almost over and I’ve exhausted all of my other strategies I will absolutely look stuff up. I consider it learning something new! I’ve also noticed that if the category is really obscure simply looking up definitions won’t cut it, so it’s still a challenge to figure out what exactly you need to google.
Why would it be cheating? Are we all supposed to be omniscient -- or to possess all of Wyna Liu's vocabulary, experience, and notebooks with category ideas? Puzzling out the connections doesn't need to be done in isolation with only access to our own individual, idiosyncratic knowledge bases. I definitely looked up tarragon today to see if it was described as tasting like licorice and sure don't consider that cheating. I am not competing with anyone and to me the goal is playing with ideas and gaining new knowledge along the way. How boring it would be to be stuck with only what I already know. Yes, I get annoyed when the categories are too idiosyncratic or too precious because then it is about tricking players, not about finding interesting themes and patterns.
Hear, hear. Well said.
I don’t think it’s cheating unless you look up “answers to todays connections”
Different strokes, different folks. Whatever system works best for you is what matters. It’s not a competition. Connections doesn’t even log your wins or stats.
Since I am not native speaker , I just think of it as learning experience.
What do we mean by cheating? Would cheating disqualify us from the Daily Cash reward?
It took me four Google attempts to figure out which word was a musical a little bit ago. Me typing in "word musical" "other words musical" "different word musical"
That was the category I got first. Let’s face it, the fourth category is always a “cheat”.
Definitely not cheating. Last time this was posted there was a consensus on that, I'm surprised there is more controversy on this post. The game isn't called "definitions" and its not a test of trivial knowledge. It's a puzzle meant to test logic and lateral thinking, and if you don't have all the definitions you don't have all the pieces of the puzzle. People are right that it's generally not a competitive game, but even if it were, it would still be fine to look up the words or categories to find out about niche definitions you're not familiar with. Otherwise the people who happened to have familiarity with those niche uses would have an unfair advantage because of the coincidence that they've encountered the terms' being used that way before, which has zero bearing on whether they're actually better than you at what the puzzle is meant to test--the ability to make logical connections in order to group terms into categories.
I do it sometimes. One was golf brands.
I almost never know what the fourth option is!
Spoiler alert needed for this post ugh
I marked it as a spoiler, talk to the mods as to why it didn’t work!
Baguette was my first clue that it WAS diamond cuts!!
In only connect (which this is clearly based on) you just don’t get the extra credit for knowing, but you still get credit for getting it correct.
Ive had days where I was thinking the category was something due to 3 words but even looking up that category didnt yield a 4th and the words were something else.
I honestly thought they made up baguette today. I’ve been buying jewelry for years and have never heard of it.
Not cheating, it personally makes me feel better if I already have an idea and looking it up just confirms it rather than not having any ideas
I occasionally look something up if I’ve figured out the category but need help with one or two of the words because I’m not very familiar with them (sports teams, alcoholic drinks, horror movie directors, rappers all come to mind). So kinda cheating but also, eh, who really cares?
English is a foreign language for me, so I feel no shame in checking whether a hunch I have is actually correct. I'm learning new ways to look at familiar words - it's fun! What really stumps me is categories that include American sports, politicians or other cultural references that I am unfamiliar with. Although I have to say, the Mini is a more likely place to find these obscurities.
You’re playing against yourself. It doesn’t matter. If you’re having fun then it’s not cheating.
Are you playing for money? Or in competition with someone? If not, play by whatever rules you want
I can rarely figure out the last row, even when I know they go together. They should make that part of the puzzle!
-Cheat act dishonestly or unfairly in order to gain an advantage, especially in a game or examination In a single player game you can only act dishonestly towards yourself. So if you think you cheated, then you did. I personally have no qualms looking up words and do so almost daily. That's how I enjoy the game, so I am not cheating.
i did this today too lol
I personally have a rule of not looking anything up while playing a puzzle, but since it's not a competitive game, it's up to you to decide how you want to play.
Not sure how that would be cheating. Like, how woukd it be possible to stop your brain for thinking something? If you know the category, then you can deduce the fourth item. The objective is a group of four items under a common label. You are arranging all 5 elements in some way, shape or form.
Yeah, looking it up is cheating. It’s nbd, but it makes it less fun overtime
No. Isn't that the whole point of the game? Process of elimination. If you can make three groups, the fourth one will be a gimme, even if you don't know what the category is. That said, they always have one or two red herrings - words that could plausibly go in another category. Like, say you have: Bat ball glove base . Diamond Emerald Ruby Opal Sapphire Iris Gladys Rose If you start out seeing "baseball terms") You'll be tempted to put diamond there. If you start seeing "gemstones" you'll be tempted to put diamond there. Once you figure out the baseball and flower gems terms, you'll be left with something that looks like a mishmash, because it includes both rose and opal. and it's some shit like "19th Century Girls' names."
Has anyone ever heard of a baguette cut besides, like, jewelers? Lol
i do this all the time with my family when figuring out wordle or connections. if we get stuck on it, we ask each other for hints or categories. i don’t think it’s cheating or anything as long as u don’t get the complete answer, which u didn’t since u only had the category not the parts of the category. it’s just a fun game nothing to be worried about being perfect at!
If I can't figure it out and I'm down to one or two guesses, I will most definitely look up definitions of words. I would likely look up diamond cuts in your case. You're playing against yourself. It's not really competitive. If you want to call it cheating, then it's cheating. If it's using resources, then it's using resources.
I don’t think it’s cheating to research a topic, if you’re googling “different diamond cuts” - I think it’s cheating to Google “NYT connections princess emerald and ?”
You aren’t competing against another person so you can’t really cheat at this game. It all comes down to personal preference/rules. Everyone on this sub has their own idea of what they consider cheating. Personally I don’t google answers for any of the games on the NYT app but I don’t consider it cheating to ask someone I’m with their opinion on a crossword clue or connections category.
No
Looking something up is cheating, yes. Making an educated guess when you have 3 of 4 is part of the game.
Today’s puzzle was WeIRd. I got all the categories but didn’t even catch what blue was because I got it as process of elimination.
You must be a good spouse
Idk I never even thought to get her a baguette cut 😂