The New York Times Connections game continued its streak of engaging word challenges Tuesday with puzzle No. 1115, testing players' abilities to group 16 words into four categories based on subtle thematic links. Released early Tuesday morning, the daily brain teaser drew the usual mix of praise and playful frustration from solvers across social media and puzzle forums.

The solution featured straightforward connections involving physical dividers, winter sports, everyday recyclables and multiple meanings of the word "draft." While many players solved it with relative ease, the purple category once again proved the trickiest for those unfamiliar with its linguistic flexibility.

Here is the complete breakdown of Tuesday's Connections answers:

Yellow (easiest): Dividing structures — fence, gate, hedge, wall. These words all describe barriers that separate spaces, whether in yards, properties or landscapes.

Green: Participate in some Winter Olympics — curl, luge, skate, ski. Each represents an event or discipline featured in the Winter Games, from the precision of curling to high-speed luge runs.

Blue: Common recyclables — bottle, box, can, newspaper. These are staple items routinely sorted for curbside pickup programs in communities nationwide.

Purple (hardest): What "draft" might refer to — breeze, on tap, recruit, sketch. The category plays on different senses of "draft": a cool breeze, draft beer on tap, a military recruit or draft pick, and a preliminary sketch or draft document.

The puzzle's 16 words were: fence, curl, bottle, breeze, gate, luge, box, hedge, skate, can, wall, ski, newspaper, on tap, recruit, sketch. Players reported that spotting the yellow category early often provided momentum, while the purple category rewarded those with broader vocabulary knowledge.

Since its debut in 2023, Connections........

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