India, May 17 -- Word puzzles continue to dominate the casual gaming space and NYT Connections has quickly become one of the most-played daily challenges online. According to recent estimates, millions of players attempt the puzzle every week, making it one of the fastest-growing games from The New York Times unlike traditional crossword games, Connections tests pattern recognition, vocabulary and lateral thinking all at once. Today's puzzle for May 18 (#1072) delivered another layered challenge with categories involving homophones, baseball references and scrambled fruit names.

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is a daily word association puzzle where players must sort 16 words into four hidden groups of four where each category...