If you’re looking for a solid 10/10. April Fool’s Day, I recommend you play The New York Times links Riddle today?
links is a word association game in which players start with a grid of 16 words. In this daily puzzle, players find the common thread between four words and discover four different word groupings, each with its own unifying theme. This particular game is easy to learn but difficult to analyze has made a name for himself on the internet because I’m difficult and sometimes have somewhat stupid solutions. Then, on Monday, the editors took the wordplay in a surprising direction by replacing the usual series of works with emojis.
It’s a quirky and visual twist on a popular game. Some It was blown up online as the “CRAZIEST COUPLING OF ALL TIME,” but not everyone is into the antics. Players quickly took to social media platforms like X to voice their criticism of the change. One User on X wrote, “What the NYT did to April Fools’ Day connections is evil and may deserve a prison sentence.” While some of the comments seemed a little…aggressive…at least it seems to have been made in a good gesture of puzzle-loving fun. Another Person on X wrote“New Connections Editor, I am within your walls.” So if you are a links Editor, an exorcism could be to protect yourself from all the bad vibes.
Polygon reached out to a representative from The New York Times to ask about the particular mystery. When asked what the inspiration for the unique twist was, Everdeen Mason, editorial director of New York Times Games, said that the team encourages puzzle developers to get creative with the game.
“Connections, like all New York Times games, are made by people and we encourage puzzle designers and editors to take creative steps.” Mason wrote in an email: “This makes our puzzles more entertaining and reduces monotony. We test every puzzle before publishing and take solver feedback into account when experimenting with new puzzle formats and styles. We’re always happy to see our community of solvers having fun, even if they find our puzzles…well, puzzling.”
Personally, I think it’s a refreshing take on a game I already enjoy. It still uses the same type of logic and has scratched my daily logic puzzle itch. It’s just this time I can play by clicking on all the cute emojis.
