NYT Connections March 18, 2025 #646 Hints & Answers
Need help with the New York Times Connections puzzle for March 18, 2025? PuzzHelp offers a complete guide with progressive hints, full answers, and insights for today's NYT Connections game #646. Our step-by-step approach helps you learn category patterns and solve challenging word groups without spoiling the fun. Explore hints, answers, and interesting facts about each category below.
Today's Connections Hints
One Word from Each Category
Click to reveal one word from each color group to help you get started.
Today's Connections Answers
EXCEPTIONAL
REMARKABLE, SINGULAR, SPECIAL, UNIQUE
GERMAN WORDS
ANGST, DIE, KINDER, WURST
PLURAL ANIMALS IDENTICAL TO THEIR SINGULAR FORMS
DEER, SHEEP, SHRIMP, SQUID
PLURAL WORDS THAT ARE VERY DIFFERENT FROM THEIR SINGULAR FORMS
DICE, LICE, MICE, OXEN
Answer Explanations
Word-by-Word Analysis
REMARKABLE
Worthy of attention, notably unusual or extraordinary. Something that makes you take notice because of its unusualness or excellence.
SINGULAR
One of a kind, unique, extraordinary. In grammar, it also refers to a form of a word that denotes a single person or thing.
SPECIAL
Better, greater, or otherwise different from what is usual. Something distinguished by some unusual quality or held in particular esteem.
UNIQUE
Being the only one of its kind, without equal. Something unparalleled, unprecedented, or singular in its characteristics.
The word 'unique' originally comes from Latin 'unicus' meaning 'only, sole, single' and entered English in the 16th century. Technically, something can only be unique or not unique—it can't be 'very unique' or 'somewhat unique,' though these phrases have become common in casual speech.
Word-by-Word Analysis
ANGST
A feeling of deep anxiety or dread, typically an unfocused one about the human condition or the state of the world. In German, it simply means 'fear.'
DIE
In German, 'die' is the feminine form of the definite article 'the' or can be an imperative form of the verb 'to die.' In English, it's also a singular form of 'dice.'
KINDER
The German word for 'children.' Known to English speakers primarily through the compound 'kindergarten' (children's garden).
WURST
The German word for 'sausage,' which has entered English vocabulary particularly in compounds like 'bratwurst' or 'liverwurst.'
'Kindergarten' literally means 'children's garden' in German and was created by Friedrich Fröbel in 1837 as a place for pre-school education. The concept was revolutionary at the time for its focus on learning through play and creative activities rather than rote memorization.
Word-by-Word Analysis
DEER
A hoofed grazing or browsing animal with branched bony antlers that are shed annually and typically borne only by the male. One deer or many deer—the form doesn't change.
SHEEP
A domesticated ruminant animal with a thick woolly coat. Whether referring to one or multiple, the word remains 'sheep.'
SHRIMP
A small free-swimming crustacean. Traditionally, the plural is the same as the singular, though 'shrimps' is also sometimes used, especially when referring to different species.
SQUID
A fast-swimming cephalopod mollusk with ten arms. Like the others, one squid or many squid—though 'squids' has become increasingly common in casual usage.
This unchanging plural form is called a 'zero plural' or 'null plural' in linguistics. Many animal names follow this pattern, especially species that were historically hunted or fished. This pattern often comes from Old English, where some nouns (particularly those referring to animals hunted in groups) didn't change form in the plural when used after numerals or in a collective sense.
Word-by-Word Analysis
DICE
Plural of 'die' (a small cube with different numbers of spots on each face, used in games of chance).
LICE
Plural of 'louse' (a parasitic insect), representing a vowel change from 'ou' to 'i'.
MICE
Plural of 'mouse' (a small rodent or computer pointing device), showing the same vowel change pattern as 'louse/lice'.
OXEN
Plural of 'ox' (a domesticated bovine animal), using the rare '-en' plural suffix instead of the more common '-s' or '-es'.
These irregular plurals are remnants of Old English grammatical patterns. The -en ending in 'oxen' was once more common in English, seen in now-obsolete plural forms like 'eyen' (eyes) and 'shoen' (shoes). The 'mouse/mice' and 'louse/lice' pattern comes from a historical sound change called i-mutation or umlaut, where a vowel is altered by a following 'i' or 'j' sound in Germanic languages.
Today's Red Herrings
Grammar Confusion with 'DIE'
'DIE' might be mistakenly grouped with the irregular plural category since it's the singular form of 'DICE', which appears in the purple category. This creates a direct link between the German words category and the irregular plurals category.
Animal Taxonomy Grouping
Players might attempt to group all animal words together (DEER, SHEEP, SHRIMP, SQUID, LICE, MICE, OXEN), not recognizing that they're split between two different grammatical categories.
Conceptual Connection Between 'SINGULAR' and Singular Forms
The word 'SINGULAR' in the yellow category might lead players to think about singular/plural relationships, creating a false connection with the blue and purple categories that deal with pluralization.
Similar Word Endings in '-ICE'
DICE, LICE, and MICE all share the '-ICE' ending, making them visually and phonetically similar, but this is actually a grammatical pattern rather than just a coincidence.
Pluralization Confusion Between Blue and Purple Categories
Both blue and purple categories deal with pluralization patterns, but in opposite ways—one for words that don't change, one for words that change dramatically—making them potentially confusable.
Today's Learning Moments
Linguistic Origins
This puzzle highlights German loanwords in English, demonstrating how languages borrow from each other. Many English speakers might not realize that words like 'angst' and compounds containing 'wurst' have German origins.
Grammatical Patterns in English
The puzzle elegantly showcases two contrasting pluralization patterns in English: words that don't change form (zero plurals) and words with irregular plural forms, helping players recognize these diverse grammatical structures.
Etymology and Word Evolution
The irregular plurals in the purple category provide insight into historical English grammar patterns, showing how certain words have retained ancient forms while most English plurals have standardized to the '-s/-es' suffix.
Semantic Field Awareness
The exceptional category (yellow) helps players distinguish between near-synonyms and understand the subtle differences in connotation between words like 'unique,' 'singular,' 'special,' and 'remarkable.'
Animal Naming Conventions
The blue category highlights a linguistic pattern specific to certain animal names, particularly those that were traditionally hunted or fished, reflecting how language evolves in relation to cultural practices.
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