Looking for today's Connections answer for puzzle #384 from June 29 should be much harder than yesterday's answer. The Connections companion rated this puzzle 3.3 out of 5 for difficulty.

We update our Connections hints and tips daily. And if the hints aren't enough, you can see all four answers along with the category title and related words. In addition, for those of you reading this in a different time zone, I've included a reflection on yesterday's puzzle, #383.

There are spoilers for connection #384. Only those who want to know the answer to today's connection should read on.

Alternatively, see our NYT Connections How to Play Guide for tips on how to solve the puzzle without our help.

While today's wordle solution guide recommends the best wordle starting words as a strategy, the Connections solution depends on identifying the categories that are connected from the 16 words. The difficulty of each category is represented by a color, with yellow being the easiest grouping and purple the most difficult. Hints are helpful as the answer is displayed after four wrong guesses.

If you need a hint to help you solve the groupings, here are each theme in order of difficulty:

If you read these hints, you should at least find the answer to today's connection. If not, please continue reading for larger hints. Also, if you only want to know the answer, scroll down further.

There is a bigger clue. Today things get a little trickier with words that are similar or fall into other categories. Today we might gather to enjoy flowers and lie.

So what is the answer to today's connection in game #384?

Drum roll please.

Yesterday, I expected today's puzzle to be a bit more fun, but the Connections staff had a bit of trouble with it.

Should I have fallen for the obvious Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday trap they set? No, but I did.

Once it came off, I started with Wednesday to see what would lead from there. Soon I saw Unite and a couple. Then I found a tie to complete the green category.

I don't know why I looked at the blue category next; Laid, placed, and put were easy to grab. But I was really looking for a set.

I found the yellow homonyms right after that, to, too, two, and two.

Purple was interesting in its connection to may flower, sunflower, wallflower, and wild flower. I liked that grouping and wished I had seen it earlier.

It was over very quickly and felt about the same level as yesterday's grouping except for the traps on the days of the week. But the traps were a nice little trick, so today's puzzle is better than yesterday's.

I read it late in the day. The difficulty level was 2.7 out of 5.

For some reason today's puzzle was easier and more boring than yesterday's puzzle. Is it just me?

The first words I saw were word, brief, and messenger. I started looking for a writing or communique connection. But then I saw tote, and from there I quickly sniffed out bag.

I skipped the green category. Instead, I quickly looked at the blue category, where prompts and signals were stacked in a grid. Cues and words were quickly found there.

Today's purple category is a bit of fun in the overall puzzle. The singular form of underwear is a bit funny. Boxers, briefs, drawers, and shorts were all basically the same thing, so for the "hardest" category it was tap, tap, tap

tap.

The four words they presented helped me understand what the connection is for wiggle room. I don't like it, but I understand it; Latitude, license, and freedom make the most sense. Slack is inert as the word implies. I like the idea of the categories, but none of the words chosen fit me. I think leeway and space could be more interesting words, although not exciting. Merriam-Webster claims that slack is a synonym for wiggle room.

I think the reason simple puzzles can be boring or stuffy is because we can't imagine words in other categories. The word-sequence puzzles can be frustrating, but they make you think a little more than straight-forward puzzles.

Expect a lot of excitement over the weekend.