The New York Times Connections game deceives users by using only one category. Connections, the well-known puzzle game from The New York Times, has provoked fury once more because of a category that was thought to be simple but was actually a deception.

Connections is a puzzle on The New York Times website, for those who are not familiar with the addicting game. In order to organize the 16 words on the grid into four groups of four, players must find the "connections" between the words. These categories might include TV networks or grocery store aisles, for instance.

The color-coding of each group of connections corresponds to the degree of difficulty. Green and blue are on the medium difficulty scale, while yellow is the simplest. Generally speaking, the purple group is the most difficult to understand.

Players can only establish connections with each other four times, though. In the event that your guess is off, you will lose a life. However, a notification alerting you to the fact that you are just one word away from correctly guessing the group will show up on the screen if you are approaching close.

The four words—tinder, bumble, grinder, and hinge—which everyone assumed were the names of dating apps—threw players off on Monday, February 19. People were upset to find that they were not even close to finishing the task when they tried to submit their responses.

On February 7, the first four words in the grid alludesd to everyone's favorite marine sponge: "Sponge," "Bob," "Square," and "Pants." This happened earlier in the month in the game.

Players weren't delighted by the apparent deception, even though the lines alluded to the beloved Nickelodeon program SpongeBob SquarePants, because the grouping wasn't the solution to the problem. Users also expressed their dissatisfied responses to the Connections puzzle on X, the defunct Twitter platform.

One user on X wrote, "I am not charmed by this," and included a screenshot of the "Sponge Bob Square Pants" Connections group.