Looking for the answer to today's Connections puzzle, the Connections answer to puzzle #232 from January 29 is a little harder than yesterday's The difficulty level for this puzzle in the Connections companion is 25 out of 5

We update our Connections clues and hints daily And if the hints aren't enough, see the four answers below, along with the category title and related words In addition, for those of you reading this in a different time zone, I have included a reflection on yesterday's puzzle, #231

There are spoilers for connection #232 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 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 just want the answer, scroll down further

Now for the bigger clue While today's Connections answer may awaken your romantic side, in the context of today's category, "love" and "passion" are not only apparent

So what is today's Connections answer for game #232?

Drum roll please

With Valentine's Day just a few weeks away, there's a lot of romance in today's Connection

Couple, Pair, Passion, and Love seemed to fit the theme, but I saw an early life lost and not one apartThe word Item prompted me to choose a slightly different theme, but Couple, Pair, Deuce and Combined, it remained incorrect, though with the fallout of being only one apart; replacing Deuce with Thing, I finally arrived at the first category of the day: the Romantic Twosome

Having watched the Australian Open final yesterday (well done Janick Sinner), I figured Deuce and Love must be related to tennis, so All (meaning 15-all) and Ad (meaning advantage), er, completed the set

After a brief flirtation with potential themes related to the project (Passion, Promote), I zoned in on the marketing theme and completed the yellow category with Pitch, Plug, Promote, Push

The last purple category remained Pan, Dragon, Jack, and Passion Looks like my doctor is right, I need to eat more fruit

I'm reading this late in the day According to Connections Companion, the difficulty level was 22 out of 5

Connections offers words that fall into more than one category, but the NYT game masters must have been generous this weekend

For example, Vertex is not a word that evokes more than one meaning, so I was quick to combine it with Crest, Peak, and Summit to complete the yellow category

I also did a small job with the blue theme, finding Toy, Mini, and Baby, and spent a little longer finding the fourth little friend, Pocket

But just as I began to dream of reaching today's summit without losing a single life, I was quickly pulled back to the ground as I submitted tiles, boards, bags, and digits, having mistakenly tied them together as part of a vague board game theme

Thankfully, I was left with only one, which I quickly realized was because I needed to be more specific The game in question was Scrabble, which of course is all about words, not numbers (sounds familiar) So, Digits (numbers) came out, Racks (racks) came in, and the contents of my box were complete

Number, Contact, Cell, and Digits remained, completing the category about exchanging phone numbers Since I only lost one life and pressed submit to end the game, it is safe to say that as far as today's game is concerned, I had the number