Every year, the Spelling Bee brings me down to earth. On a Wednesday, I am lucky if I complete the crossword. After my first Wordle loss, I was so distraught that I dedicated an entire poem to venting my frustration. Therefore, I must admit that I am just as taken aback as everyone else to have the following gripe regarding Connections, the latest game from the New York Times: I can't handle it.

Players in last month's inaugural game Connections see a four-by-four grid of gray rectangles, with each square enclosing a word. The objective is to form matching sets of four words; for example, if you see four terms that describe different forms of pasta or different slices of beef, you should choose them. Sometimes it's hard to see patterns right away, and other times it's even more difficult to spot a word that could fit into more than one category. For instance, a player might have thought the word "rock" belonged on the same grid as "blues" and "country" before realizing that "paper," "scissors," and "shoot" were also on that grid. Although some media sites complained about Connections' debut, you might be hearing a familiar tune because a BBC game called Only Connect functions similarly. If you play Connections correctly, each set of words will become a solid-colored bar. When you win, you'll see your effort displayed in four rainbow stripes:

The only real complaints I have with Connections Game are the copycat charges and the fact that its name is too literal, making it sound more like a general social network than a game. Other than those two issues, I really like the game. There isn't much strategy to the game once you discover that the grid usually contains a trick word or two. You won't necessarily be familiar with all four groups, but once you do, you can use elimination to determine the others. Or you can't figure it out and still win the game since the last four words you have to utilize must be consecutive. On that note, why does the game insist that you submit your choices in groups of four when you're down to your last two or three choices? The entire thing is lacking in gratifying progression. Before making your initial guess, you have to do a lot of thinking, if that makes sense, and then the fun kind of goes downhill from there. While you do lose after four incorrect answers, the pressure isn't as intense as it is when playing Wordle. Picking four words from a pool of sixteen could make your first guess seem excitingly risky, but by the time you're picking four words from a pool of twelve or eight, the exercise loses its luster.