If you\u2019re defending a streak in the New York Times Connections on Feb. 22, puzzle #987 arrives a touch harder than yesterday\u2019s \u2014 tracking sites peg it around a 3\/5 difficulty. That makes a few targeted hints useful: below you\u2019ll find the clues, the full solution, and practical tactics to finish without burning strikes.<\/p>\n
Connections asks players to sort 16 words into four related groups \u2014 each group carries a color-coded difficulty from yellow<\/strong> (easiest) to purple<\/strong> (hardest). You have four incorrect guesses before the remaining answers are revealed, so spotting reliable links early matters.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s 16 tiles: Outcast, salt-and-pepper, blondie, teddy bear, distinguished, black sheep, rough riders, the far side, bull moose, bloom county, silver, peanuts, misfit, flecked, reject, big stick.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \n<\/ul>\n One useful nudge: think comics when you\u2019re puzzling over the Roosevelt-related items \u2014 that cross-connection should steer you to the right pairing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \n <\/tr>\n \n <\/thead>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \n <\/tr>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \n <\/tr>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \n <\/tr>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \n <\/tr>\n \n <\/tbody>\n \n<\/table>\n The Roosevelt cluster tends to be a fast pick if you remember his nickname and political slogans; the comics set needs recognition of a few classic strips (Bloom County is an easy miss if it doesn\u2019t pop immediately). The hair descriptors fall into place once you isolate one or two qualifiers, and the \u201cdoesn\u2019t fit\u201d group is a straightforward synonyms set.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \n<\/ul>\n <\/p>\n Players generally adopt one of two routes: build obvious groups as they appear, or hunt for the purple (hard) set first. Both work; the trick is managing risk so you don\u2019t waste strikes on tempting but wrong groupings.<\/p>\n Here are targeted tips that help most games:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \n<\/ul>\n Connections rewards pattern recognition and patience. If you get stuck, step back, reshuffle, and re-scan the grid with one of the lenses above \u2014 the answer often hides in a familiar naming convention rather than a random association.<\/p>\n Happy solving \u2014 and watch that purple set; it\u2019s where most streaks are lost.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":43380,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"schema_org_data":"{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"Theodore Roosevelt\",\"image\":\"https:\/\/image.tmdb.org\/t\/p\/w500\/odVu3ybFf48lplnju3YNmuosOKi.jpg\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.themoviedb.org\/person\/214372\"]}]}","_extracted_celebrities":null,"_extracted_movies":"","_extracted_places":"","_extracted_videos":"","_last_enrichment_date":"2026-02-21 17:31:44","footnotes":""},"categories":[389],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gaming","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"yoast_head":"\nQuick hints to get you started<\/h3>\n
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Answers for Connections #987<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\n <\/p>\nColor<\/th>\n Theme<\/th>\n Words<\/th>\n <\/p>\n Yellow<\/td>\n Those who don\u2019t fit in<\/td>\n Black sheep, misfit, outcast, reject<\/td>\n <\/p>\n Green<\/td>\n Ways to describe graying hair<\/td>\n Distinguished, flecked, salt-and-pepper, silver<\/td>\n <\/p>\n Blue<\/td>\n Famous comic strips<\/td>\n Blondie, Bloom County, Peanuts, The Far Side<\/td>\n <\/p>\n Purple<\/td>\n Linked to Theodore Roosevelt<\/td>\n Big stick, Bull Moose, Rough Riders, Teddy bear<\/td>\n Yesterday\u2019s solutions (game #986)<\/h3>\n
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How to approach Connections \u2014 practical tactics<\/h3>\n
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