So, I was messin’ around with the NYT games app the other day, you know, tryin’ to keep the old brain cells from completely turning to mush. And this one session, man, it really got under my skin. Call it my “tennis do over” moment with their darn puzzles.
My Morning Ritual Gone Sideways
I usually fire it up with my coffee. Quick look at the headlines, then straight to the games. Wordle first, gotta get that done. Then usually Connections. I like Connections. Makes you feel smart when you nail those categories. Or incredibly dumb when you don’t.
Anyway, this particular morning, I open up Connections. See the grid of sixteen words. Standard stuff. I start scanning, looking for the obvious links. And bam! I see a bunch of words that scream tennis. Stuff like:
- SERVE
- LOVE
- FAULT
- NET
Easy, right? “Ha! Got one already,” I thought. Too confident, that was my problem. So I select ’em, hit submit.
WRONG. One away. One away! How can that be one away? Those are all tennis things!
The Frustration Builds
Okay, deep breath. Maybe “NET” was the odd one out? Or “LOVE”? I swapped one out, tried again. Still “One away!” This happened a couple more times. My coffee was getting cold. My good mood? Evaporating. This is supposed to be a fun little distraction, not a major source of early morning angst, you know?
I started thinking the game was just being deliberately obtuse. You know how they do that sometimes? The categories are so specific, or so vague, it’s like they’re just trying to trick you. It’s not about being clever; it’s about being a pain in the backside.
I even closed the app for a minute. Stared out the window. Thought about actual tennis. Last time I played, I shanked a serve so bad it nearly hit my partner. That was a “do over” I wished I had in real life. But this stupid word game? It’s just pixels!
The “Do Over” and Finally Cracking It
So, I went back in. Decided to forget the “obvious” tennis connection for a second and look at the other words. Started grouping some others. Got one category. Okay, progress. Then another. Slowly, the board cleared up a bit.
Then I was left with those blasted “tennis” words again, plus a few others. And it clicked. The category wasn’t just “Tennis Things.” It was something more specific, like “Tennis Scoring Terms” or something equally finicky. And “NET” wasn’t part of that particular group, it was in another one with, like, “BUTTERFLY” and “TRAWL” for “Things with Mesh” or some such nonsense. Who even thinks of these categories?
I finally got it. All purple, all blue, all green, all yellow. Victory. But it felt hollow, man. Like I didn’t outsmart the game, I just outlasted its stubbornness. Or maybe it outlasted mine. It’s like arguing with a brick wall. The wall doesn’t get smarter, you just get tired.
It’s funny, these little games. They’re supposed to be a quick break, but sometimes they suck you in and chew you up. That whole “do over” feeling, wishing you could just rewind a few seconds, pick different words. It sticks with you more than the wins sometimes.
So yeah, that was my little battle with the NYT Connections. It wasn’t exactly a grand slam performance from me. More like a series of unforced errors until I finally stumbled over the finish line. Next time, I’m sticking to Wordle. At least there, when I mess up, it’s usually my own darn fault for picking a weird starting word.
