The Most Controversial Game on the Internet. Wyna Liu, the editor of the New York Times game Connections, discusses her process and the particular ire her puzzles inspire.

 

The Most Controversial Game on the Internet.

Wyna Liu, the editor of the New York Times game Connections, discusses her process and the particular ire her puzzles inspire.

 

One morning earlier this month, I slammed my laptop shut. I was four cups of coffee deep and full of rage. My hands shook, and my vision blurred. It wasn’t politics, my usual subject matter, that had sent me spiraling.

Liu is the New York Times editor who makes Connections, the online puzzle that is both the blessing and the bane of my mornings—and the days of millions of other people who regularly spend time tangling with Liu’s creation. Connections, which was released in 2023 by the Times’ Games team, is the second-most-popular Times game after Wordle. The puzzle is all about identifying words that share a common thread, which can be very satisfying. Often, though, that common thread is so thin as to be invisible. Imagine a jigsaw puzzle made of riddles. Think crossword, but evil.

One recent board—which is how Liu refers to an individual puzzle—contained the words eventually, later, next, and soon, which could be filed together under the category “At Some Future Point.” Fine, good, easy enough. But in the same puzzle, another category— “What the Outstretched Index and Middle Fingers Can Represent”—included the words peace, scissors, two, and victory. Woof. In just the past few weeks, Connections players have faced such baffling categories as “Words That Seem Longer Written Than Spoken”; “Church of England Wedding Vow Verbs”; and “Starts of Pasta Names.” Yet we soldier on.