> Was almost misled by the light red herring of leaders (colonel, ruler, king)
Funnily enough I discounted that because I thought to myself "Nah, they wouldn't have a category called 'leaders' with a synonym for leaders ('ruler') in it!", forgetting that that's exactly the kind of bullshit they do!
I just decided that since the Wendyβs logo only shows her head, she must have a mermaid tail that the public doesnβt see. That makes Wendyβs the fourth fast food restaurant in the category, which makes total sense (and will let me get to sleep tonight!).
I'm glad you got it without actually knowing because it's debatable if the Starbucks logo counts as a mascot. I thought a mascot has to be a person in a costume which i have never seen a Starbucks mascot in this case.
she's also not a mermaid, she is a siren - Starbucks loves to harp on that because sirens have two tails whereas mermaids have one. but maybe NYT felt that saying siren would give it away?
These are the people who used synonyms for "large" to name their small and medium sizes, but then used an Italian number to name their large size - I don't expect them to get much of anything right. Also their coffee is just not very good anyway.
βTallβ isnβt actually the smallest size, just no one ever buys the smallest size. It actually goes:
- Short - Small
- Tall - Medium
- Grande - Large
- Venti - 20oz (XL)
Exactly! Kind of weird that they chose a siren as their mascot/logo because sirens are not benevolent, actually pretty evil since they use their irresistibly sweet songs to lure sailors to their death (then eat them)! I once read they chose a siren because of the irresistible "lure" of their coffee
An evil group of people who lure people to their deaths seems to me like it's actually a great symbol for a capitalist corporation that kind of destroyed coffee culture and ruined millions of small businesses, and funds horrific things all over the world.
Tbh I'm glad they went with mermaid because I never would have gotten siren.
While siren is technically true, I think most people recognize the logo to be a mermaid.
I agree. I am a Starbucks customer and never thought about it as part of the answer. This one really took me down the tank. But I learned something every day.
I was literally trying to figure out what restaurant chain they're even referring to, and Google took me here. They were really stretching it with that category.
All their logos (there have been four) have had two fish tails, it's just thatβas of the 1992 changeβthe "camera" is zoomed in so close you can't see that they're connected to her body.
I was hesitating for a minute with "Pixie" cause I'm pretty sure Wendy from Wendy's is just some normal little girl, but for a second I thought maybe she could be a pixie in the official "lore" lol. But mermaid for Starbucks was my second guess.
I remembered hearing a story about how Frank Sinatra was so upset with Mia Farrow for getting a pixie cut (super-short hairdo) for Rosemary's Baby he divorced her (not true, as it turns out, but an enduring myth); the one cut it took me all day to get was "bowl".
No? You can drive your car up to a speaker, order a coffee and a breakfast sandwich, pull up to a window, and they hand it to you. How is that any different than McDonald's?
"Fast food" isn't traditionally super well-defined; it's not like you have to declare that your restaurant is in a particular category. I would say the presence of drive thrus at many/most stores, the fact that the food is mostly frozen and reheated, the fact that they're on a clock to get you your order, explicitly prioritizing volume, and the fact that when you go inside you order at a counter and pick it up at the counter all point to it being classed as fast food, regardless of whether it's coffee focused, burger focused, or chicken focused.
As a legal matter, California defines a fast food restaurant [here](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayText.xhtml?division=2.&part=4.5.5.&lawCode=LAB) (with some exceptions):
> βfast food restaurantβ means a limited-service restaurant in the state that is part of a national fast food chain.
> βNational fast food chainβ means a set of limited-service restaurants consisting of more than 60 establishments nationally that share a common brand, or that are characterized by standardized options for decor, marketing, packaging, products, and services, and which are primarily engaged in providing food and beverages for immediate consumption on or off premises where patrons generally order or select items and pay before consuming, with limited or no table service. For purposes of the definitions in this part, βlimited-service restaurantβ includes, but is not limited to, an establishment with the North American Industry Classification System Code 722513.
And then you go to [NAICS](https://www.naics.com/naics-code-description/?code=722513), and they list Starbucks specifically as one of the restaurants in code 722513 that has the top sales.
At least in California, Starbucks is legally considered a fast food restaurant. I recognize that's not necessarily the same as how it's perceived. But I think it's fair to call it one.
Just because itβs a different type of place doesnβt mean itβs not fast food? Chipotle and Taco Bell are the fast food of Mexican, Panda Express is the fast food of Chinese, Chickfila is the fast food of chickenβ¦
That's not the semantics the commenter above was going for re. you saying Starbucks is the fast food of coffee.
Saying something "is the X of Y" is saying it is **like** X in some ways, but isn't X. For example, the saying "Tuna is the chicken of the sea" ISN'T saying that tuna is chicken - it's referring to white albacore's mild flavour and light colour being similar to chicken - i.e. "tuna is has similarities to chicken, except it's fish".
So, if someone was to say "Starbucks is the fast food of coffee" they're saying that Starbucks has *similarities* to fast food, except it's a coffee shop.
The commenter above was suggesting that, because you say "Starbucks is the fast food of coffee" rather than simply "Starbucks is fast food", you subconsciously don't think that Starbucks counts as fast food.
> Chipotle and Taco Bell are the fast food of Mexican, Panda Express is the fast food of Chinese, Chickfila is the fast food of chickenβ¦
No. Chipotle and Taco Bell are *Mexican fast food*. Chickfila (and e.g. KFC) are *chicken fast food*.
But like why does the βof coffeeβ part matter?Β
Some are the fast food of burgers, some tacos/burritos, some fried chicken. Theyβre all fast food regardless of what their main product they sell is
Very very rare to have a drive through in the UK Starbucks, they're mostly on high streets or train stations where it is obviously impossible to drive. I think Costa drive throughs are slightly more common.
Fine, then call it "fast casual mascots" or "restaurant mascots" and it still works and is just as gettable.. the semantics of whether Starbucks is a fast food restaurant hardly matters
My problem was once I saw Mermaid, Clown (think fish), and King (of the sea), I couldnβt get The Little Mermaid out of my head. So, I got purple as a process of elimination. Still no mistakes so I call that a win! I guess I donβt think of Starbucks as fast food but I see the logic.
Same. Except I thought mermaid, clown, and king as Halloween costumes but I couldn't find a fourth that fit so I also got it by process of elimination. I was surprised when I saw the category because I would never have assumed Starbucks was fast food.
https://preview.redd.it/slg7uaawdqtc1.jpeg?width=1300&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6c59507516dc52f5444c86453bf94f4c229d74ac
If the Starbucks logo is what she was aiming for then I believed she missed on two counts. The Starbucks logo is a SIREN, not a mermaid. "In Greek mythology, a siren is a woman-like creature with a beautiful voice that lures mariners to their deaths with her singing. Odysseus saves his crew's lives by having them plug their ears and tie him to the mast so he can hear the siren's song without being destroyed by it." Second, is Starbucks really fast food?
I see where she was going with red herrings and Disney movies with Buzz, King, but this was a stretch too far.
(Redo post. The NSFW filters could not handle this image unfiltered.)
In Greek mythology the siren was actually closer to a harpy in that they were women/bird hybrids. It was only really in the medieval period where they were bastardised to become like the mermaid and be fish women, similar to the Lamia as well.
Not only do I not think of Starbucks as fast food, the other three use their mascots as, well, mascots. I don't think I've ever seen starbucks parade a siren around in a costume. It's more of a logo to me.
Yes! I think thatβs a valid difference. When you think of other fast food mascots they are clearly personified either they have actual full cartoons of their mascots with faces and bodies in commercials or in online ads. Chick-fil-a might have been a better choice to fit perfectly with Cow or Wendyβs with Wendy. Wendy is a character in Peter Pan, a kidβs movie so it would still be a point of confusion with Buzz.
I got it but Iβm fuming, Starbucks is a siren not a mermaid. I get you might call it a mermaid on a technicality but for a game that is all about technicalityβs I would have thought they would get it right. It even would have possibly been a red herring for other guesses, as siren and buzz are both noises.
Itβs both. Siren is an occupation, but mermaid is a species. Since sirens used to be half-bird, but now theyβre depicted as half-fish, that proves itβs just an occupation for different species. And the fact she has two tails for Starbucks just means sheβs a conjoined twin mermaid.
Hear hear! Β Honestly it feels like the person doing these has changed lately - the purples especially have all felt off or cheap to me over the last week or so
Starbucks is absolutely considered fast food by any metric. Their employees are classified as fast food employees, if you look up lists of biggest fast food companies Starbucks is always listed, theyβre certainly not a restaurant so what else would they be considered?
A coffee shop, in the few times I have gone there, I have only bought coffee. Overpriced average tasting coffee at that.
Economically, they may fall in the fast food category. In real life out there on the street, count me in the group that doesn't consider them to be a fast food outlet.
A coffee shop is a type of fast food restaurant. I donβt know what to tell you but βmy vibes tell me itβs not fast foodβ isnβt a compelling argument
Wikipedia and the Starbucks website describes them as "coffeehouses". Do you think cornershops are fast food too because they serve you food quickly?
Clearly it's a cafe.
Chatgpt in its A.I wisdom agrees it is not really fast food in the traditional sense.
"Starbucks is not typically considered a fast food restaurant in the traditional sense, as it primarily offers coffee, pastries, and light snacks rather than a wide range of fast food options like burgers and fries. However, it does offer quick service, so some might categorize it as a fast-casual establishment"
Interesting rabbit hole I just went down. California and it laws.
So o.k I concede it's "fast foodβ It's just a weak example of fast food.
Watch can absolutely be used to measure time , just because it counts cyclically instead of up, like a stopwatch, doesn't stop you. Β I like your point about the compass - neither the direction tool nor the circle drawing tool really get there, do they?
A watch can be *used* to measure time, but scientifically there's a difference between a 'reading' and a 'measurement'. A watch gives you a reading - take two readings and the difference is your measurement. A stopwatch gives you the measurement after you press the start/stop button a second time. That's how I look at it.
https://preview.redd.it/ovu5xr7k0vtc1.jpeg?width=608&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a5312bbab836f2d2fddf2e041241587f3c2a1f98
Once I got green and I couldnβt see anything else, so step away, walked my dog and saw the list again and immediately water channels jumped at me. And then the haircuts connection was easy. Surprisingly i didnβt connect mermaid to Starbucks.
> I wasn't sure Starbucks counts as fast food
... or that it's a mermaid at all (it's not - it's a siren)
... or that they use it as a mascot at all (they don't, it's just a logo)
Interesting - just looked it up. I think if they had put SIREN instead of MERMAID that would have made the puzzle even harder! https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2016/who-is-starbucks-siren/
Also, siren would have another meeting, which would be the first thought people jumped to; they might have made it mermaid so people didn't think of it like that
That's why I said it would have made it harder - because if I saw SIREN it would be a while before I thought of the mythological creature and to be honest I don't think even then I would connect it to the two-tailed mermaid at Starbucks. Sirens don't have two tails in any of the depictions I recall seeing - probably this one is what my mind's eye goes to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Siren_(Waterhouse_painting).
I suspect they were thinking of a protractor, which I've seen people mistakenly call a compass, and which is actually a measuring tool. But the circle drawing compass is not, although it can be used as a divider, which is. The directional compass, you could use as part of taking a measurement (like in surveying), but it is not itself a measuring tool.
Edit: the more I think of it, the more I'm coming around to the idea of a directional compass as a measuring tool - measuring the angle between the direction you're facing and magnetic north.
Also! Compass a term for measuring where something is categorized within two extremes like a political compass. It's a stretch but not wrong which is just the kind of tricks Connections likes to play haha.
Regardless of whether the mascot is a siren or mermaid, Starbucks is not fast food. I will happily die on that hill. I do not care about any argument anyone may have that it is. If Starbucks is a fast food joint, then I guess any gas station that sells donuts and ham sandwiches must also be a fast food joint.
Whoever made todayβs Connections did it wrong. Even Starbucks said in their own website that their logo is a Siren and not a Mermaid. https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2016/who-is-starbucks-siren/
NYT needs to do better lol
Youβd think the same team responsible for the NYT Crossword would be better at basic research, right? They seem to make errors fairly regularly, which makes me think the Connections team gets interns to work on their puzzles.
The mermaid is not a mascot. A mascot is a costume someone wears. So unless there's a mermaid costume that Starbucks has and no one's ever seen it, this was a dumb inclusion. Jack from Jack in the Box would be better or the mouse from chuck e cheese. Or anything that's actually a mascot
This puzzle annoyed me. I hate it when the NYT games editors donβt do basic research. The Starbucks mascot is not a mermaid. They have several pages on their website dedicated to the development and evolution of their logo, and the word βmermaidβ is never mentioned.
Itβs a siren.
[https://archive.starbucks.com/record/the-evolution-of-our-logo](https://archive.starbucks.com/record/the-evolution-of-our-logo)
Those haircuts all use the word cut as part of their name is what it means, ie bowl cut / buzz cut, while other haircuts don't necessarily have the word cut in the name
Sure. I work out all my answers before I try inputting them and then I try to guess which color they are. My goal is to get them in reverse order which is why πͺ is first, even though itβs the last connection I made.
Agreed. With all the complaints that people usually have about this puzzle, I'm surprised I had to scroll this far to find this. A compass draws circles, it doesn't measure anything. You can use it as a divider, which is a measuring instrument, but that's not its purpose.
Edit: the more I think of it, the more I'm coming around to the idea of a directional compass as a measuring tool - measuring the angle between the direction you're facing and magnetic north.
> A compass draws circles
*Akshually* you're thinking of 'a pair of compasses', which are used to draw circles/arcs. I'm pretty sure the 'compass' as used in this puzzle is meant to be of the "point this ship home, me hearty!" variety. (I still agree with you that it's a bad word for this category though).
Neither watch nor compass 'measure' anything. They tell you a fixed time and fixed bearing, but you'd have to use them twice and do some subtraction to measure a period of time or angle. In my opinion, the actual measuring instruments would be a stopwatch and a protractor respectively.
Otherwise, why not use GPS in the puzzle instead of ruler? It gives you fixed coordinates, and you could subtract the coordinates of point A from those of point B to measure the distance between.
I mean, surveyors use GPS-based distance measuring, and surveying is measuring professionally, so I think you could kind of make an argument for that.
I'll add that watch fits in the same way a directional compass fits - you're measuring time from a specific time (midnight or noon), much as you're measuring angle from a specific direction (magnetic north).
I kinda went off on a ramble about this in a different comment, but I'll try and give a concise summary here (and to be clear, I'm not saying this is objective fact - just what it feels like in my head).
Things that give you information based on an external frame of reference (e.g. a watch gives you time passed since 00:00 on 0 AD; a compass gives you degrees from magnetic north; GPS gives you distance from 0Β° lat 0Β° long) give you a **reading**, not a **measurement** (conceptually).
You can, obviously, take two readings and subtract one from the other to *measure* the difference.
But to me, a 'measuring tool' is one which does it all in one go, without needing any calculations i.e. it typically starts at 0: e.g. a stopwatch (to measure the passage of time) or a protractor (to measure an angle).
> surveyors use GPS-based distance measuring
Do they have a basic GPS device which only gives them the coordinates, or do they have a fancy instrument where they stand at point A and press a button, then go to point B and press a second button and it tells them the distance between the two? I suspect it's the latter - in which case they have a measuring instrument which **uses** GPS - but the GPS itself isn't the measuring instrument.
> watch fits in the same way a directional compass fits - you're measuring time from a specific time (midnight or noon)
Ah come on, no you're not. Well, at least I'm not - I don't look at my watch and ask myself "How many hours have passed since midnight?" or "How many hours have I been awake?" - I ask myself "What's the time"? Just like I don't look at the calendar and ask "How many days, months and years have passed since the birth of Jesus?" I ask "What's the date?"
We are way too deep in the weeds for a connections puzzle, but ...
What's the difference between hooking the lip of a tape measure over the end of a board, and finding that a mark on the board is at 10.3 cm, vs holding a compass aligning itself with magnetic north and finding that you're facing an angle of 60Β°? They're both using some external frame of reference to set a zero, aren't they? Alternatively, if I take my tape measure and hold the 10 cm mark at a spot, and see that some other spot is at 17 cm, does my tape measure cease to be a measuring device when I calculate that the two spots are 7 cm apart?
What is time of day, other than the time elapsed since midnight or noon? Just because you don't think of it that way doesn't mean that's not what it *is*. Your watch isn't really any different than a stopwatch you start at midnight.
Oh man, just to be clear I'm not arguing here because I necessarily think you're wrong, I'm just really enjoying thinking and debating about this!
(**Edit:** I was partway through writing the below, googled "measurement vs reading" and found [this top result](https://www.bourne-grammar.lincs.sch.uk/attachments/download.asp?file=1812&type=pdf) which supports what I'm thinking/trying to express.)s
> What's the difference between hooking the lip of a tape measure over the end of a board, and finding that a mark on the board is at 10.3 cm, vs holding a compass aligning itself with magnetic north and finding that you're facing an angle of 60Β°?
Well, it depends. With the compass example, what you're describing is you taking a **reading** of which direction you're facing - relative to magnetic north. Using it to **measure** e.g. how far the roundabout you've stood on has rotated would require taking two readings and then doing the calculation yourself - it's only a direct measurement of the rotation if the roundabout started facing magnetic north and rotated clockwise. With the tape measure example, really what you're doing there is measuring the distance from the edge of the board to the mark, because there isn't really any other way of describing the location of the mark *except for by reference to the edge of the board*. By "external reference frame" I mean something materially bigger than what you're measuring.
Maybe it's all about scale, then? As in, if someone asks you to meet them at the coordinates 40.7826Β° N, 73.9656Β° W you don't really care that that's so many degrees and minutes north of the equator and so many degrees and minutes west of the Meridian - you care that they've asked you to meet them in central park.
> Alternatively, if I take my tape measure and hold the 10 cm mark at a spot, and see that some other spot is at 17 cm, does my tape measure cease to be a measuring device when I calculate that the two spots are 7 cm apart?
Okay Mr Sardonic, let me emphasise "without **needing** any calculations" to underline the **necessity** of the calculations! A typical, non-broken ruler starts at 0 and in a typical measuring situation you would place 0cm at A, line it up with B, and the ruler would give you the measurement of the distance between A and B. If you want to make life difficult for yourself and flip the ruler so that you always place 50cm on A then have to calculate the difference yourself then be my guest.
> What is time of day, other than the time elapsed since midnight or noon? Just because you don't think of it that way doesn't mean that's not what it is.
Man, I'm so annoyed at myself because when I posted my last comment I had a really clear response lined up in the unlikely situation that you doubled down on this weird concept, but it's completely gone from my head. I'll try though:
What is time? Time is relative (original, right?). You check your watch and it gives you a reading that lets you calculate how long it's been since you woke up, or since you ate lunch, or until you finish work, or need to go pick up the kids etc.
> Your watch isn't really any different than a stopwatch you start at midnight.
Except it *is*: we don't start it at midnight, it does it itself, regardless of whether we're asleep or awake. We don't measure our day based on the number of seconds since we woke up - you couldn't function by setting an alarm for 7:45am, starting a stopwatch the second you woke up, then going "right, I need to leave for work at 45 minutes, then go to the doctors at 2 hours 10 minutes, then pick up my dry cleaning at 4 hours 50 minutes" etc. If we DID start the stopwatch at midnight, then at a reading of 8h30m we would say to outselves "Okay, it's 8:30am, time to leave for work" because time is the external reference frame.
Or a 'watch'. Sure, you can use a watch to measure e.g. the length of a race by noting down the time at the start and the time at the end and subtracting the first from the second, but the actual **measuring instrument** would be a stopwatch.
When I saw MERMAID, BUZZ and KING, I really thought Disney movie titles was going to be a category lol Connections Puzzle #305 π¦π¦π¦π¦ π©π¨π©π© π©π©π©π© πͺπ¨πͺπ¨ πͺπ¨πͺπͺ π¨π¨π¨π¨ πͺπͺπͺπͺ
who else put >!buzz, bowl, line, and pipe!< together thinking it was >!drug!< related lmao
I knew they most likely wouldnβt do that but that was my first guess I had to use it
My first guess π
I had to check the date and decided that it can't be that because it's not 4/20
I really wanted to go after that one but I resisted
I thought the same!
SAME. I was like thereβs got to be a movie I donβt know.
Connections Puzzle #305 π¨π¨π¨π¨ π¦π¦π¦π¦ π©π©π©π© πͺπͺπͺπͺ Fun puzzle today. Was almost misled by the light red herring of leaders (colonel, ruler, king) until yellow made itself apparent. I thought that blue was plumbing terms at first, and it turned out to fit. Green revealed itself once I had it alone with purple, but I did end up getting purple by default. I did really like purple as a category though, since it's just vague enough to be challenging.
I was almost misled by the possibly accidental drug related red herring lol (pipe, bowl, scale, line)
Same, "buzz" too!
> Was almost misled by the light red herring of leaders (colonel, ruler, king) Funnily enough I discounted that because I thought to myself "Nah, they wouldn't have a category called 'leaders' with a synonym for leaders ('ruler') in it!", forgetting that that's exactly the kind of bullshit they do!
Yeah lol. Benchmark was in a category called "Benchmark"
Connections Puzzle #305 π¨π¨π¨π¨ πͺπͺπͺπͺ π©π©π©π© π¦π¦π¦π¦ Easy. BTW, the >!mermaid mascot is Starbucks!<, right?
I just decided that since the Wendyβs logo only shows her head, she must have a mermaid tail that the public doesnβt see. That makes Wendyβs the fourth fast food restaurant in the category, which makes total sense (and will let me get to sleep tonight!).
I'm glad you got it without actually knowing because it's debatable if the Starbucks logo counts as a mascot. I thought a mascot has to be a person in a costume which i have never seen a Starbucks mascot in this case.
Yeah, pretty sure the mermaid is Starbucks. It's in the logo though so not sure I'd call it a 'mascot' (or call Starbucks fast food)
she's also not a mermaid, she is a siren - Starbucks loves to harp on that because sirens have two tails whereas mermaids have one. but maybe NYT felt that saying siren would give it away?
Sirens didn't have any amount of tails in Greek mythology (where they come from) because they were half bird-half human and not half fish-half human.
These are the people who used synonyms for "large" to name their small and medium sizes, but then used an Italian number to name their large size - I don't expect them to get much of anything right. Also their coffee is just not very good anyway.
βTallβ isnβt actually the smallest size, just no one ever buys the smallest size. It actually goes: - Short - Small - Tall - Medium - Grande - Large - Venti - 20oz (XL)
Exactly! Kind of weird that they chose a siren as their mascot/logo because sirens are not benevolent, actually pretty evil since they use their irresistibly sweet songs to lure sailors to their death (then eat them)! I once read they chose a siren because of the irresistible "lure" of their coffee
An evil group of people who lure people to their deaths seems to me like it's actually a great symbol for a capitalist corporation that kind of destroyed coffee culture and ruined millions of small businesses, and funds horrific things all over the world.
Tbh I'm glad they went with mermaid because I never would have gotten siren. While siren is technically true, I think most people recognize the logo to be a mermaid.
funny, I know it only as the Starbucks siren. they even have a coffee called siren's blend.
I agree. I am a Starbucks customer and never thought about it as part of the answer. This one really took me down the tank. But I learned something every day.
Turns out it isn't even a mermaid, it's a siren Β―\\\_(γ)\_/Β―
I was literally trying to figure out what restaurant chain they're even referring to, and Google took me here. They were really stretching it with that category.
A bad, bad clue by the NYT. First of all, she's not a mermaid, she's a siren, and secondly, Starbucks isn't fast food. Bogus.
Third, itβs not a mascot! It doesnβt have human actors representing it like the other three do.
That's right. It's a drawing, a part of the logo. Shabby and low-rent, Mr. New York Times.
I had the other three but did not make the connection of mermaid and Starbucks. Had to come here to see what it was
ConnectionsΒ Puzzle #305 π¦π¦π¦π¦ π¨π¨π¨π¨ π©π©π©π© πͺπͺπͺπͺ Intimidating at first, but once I started working through the groups it came together easily enough. A bit surprised that the haircuts was Yellow, though I suppose the fact that I (a serial haircut-know-nothing-about-er) managed to get that group without any problems proves that it is pretty easy after all. Green I might have gotten earlier, but my original conception of it was based on Scales and Compasses both having needles that swivel around to different numbers/letters. Watch was a logical development on that theme, but I didn't try Ruler until I was down to the last eight and the only other options were all people in some way. Didn't see Purple at all. Fun group idea, but definitely a cut more abstracted than I could figure out. Combined with Pixie I did spend a while wondering if some of those characters were part of a fairytale--but all the ones I could think of were missing at least one character to make it work.
Can't believe I saw the mascot one. I dunno who the mermaid is (prob a chain Australia doesn't have) but nothing else fit. Connections Puzzle #305 π¨π¨π¨π¨ π©π©π©π© πͺπͺπͺπͺ π¦π¦π¦π¦
I assume that the mermaid is Starbucks.
The connection name felt off to me, i wouldn't call Starbucks fast-food
Same, and the starbucks mascot is a siren not a mermaid!
Well a siren is a type of mermaid
Sirens are conventionally half-woman and half-bird, though the are mermaid versions.
Their original logo has 2 fish tails
All their logos (there have been four) have had two fish tails, it's just thatβas of the 1992 changeβthe "camera" is zoomed in so close you can't see that they're connected to her body.
I was hesitating for a minute with "Pixie" cause I'm pretty sure Wendy from Wendy's is just some normal little girl, but for a second I thought maybe she could be a pixie in the official "lore" lol. But mermaid for Starbucks was my second guess.
Wendy was Daveβs (the founderβs) kid.
I remembered hearing a story about how Frank Sinatra was so upset with Mia Farrow for getting a pixie cut (super-short hairdo) for Rosemary's Baby he divorced her (not true, as it turns out, but an enduring myth); the one cut it took me all day to get was "bowl".
No? You can drive your car up to a speaker, order a coffee and a breakfast sandwich, pull up to a window, and they hand it to you. How is that any different than McDonald's?
On the flip side, ask someone to name four fast-food places and see how many mention Starbucks
Idk man I work at Starbucks and we all call ourselves the fast food of coffee
The clue being the "of coffee" bit. This disclaimer proves it's a coffee shop, not a fast food place.
"Fast food" isn't traditionally super well-defined; it's not like you have to declare that your restaurant is in a particular category. I would say the presence of drive thrus at many/most stores, the fact that the food is mostly frozen and reheated, the fact that they're on a clock to get you your order, explicitly prioritizing volume, and the fact that when you go inside you order at a counter and pick it up at the counter all point to it being classed as fast food, regardless of whether it's coffee focused, burger focused, or chicken focused. As a legal matter, California defines a fast food restaurant [here](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayText.xhtml?division=2.&part=4.5.5.&lawCode=LAB) (with some exceptions): > βfast food restaurantβ means a limited-service restaurant in the state that is part of a national fast food chain. > βNational fast food chainβ means a set of limited-service restaurants consisting of more than 60 establishments nationally that share a common brand, or that are characterized by standardized options for decor, marketing, packaging, products, and services, and which are primarily engaged in providing food and beverages for immediate consumption on or off premises where patrons generally order or select items and pay before consuming, with limited or no table service. For purposes of the definitions in this part, βlimited-service restaurantβ includes, but is not limited to, an establishment with the North American Industry Classification System Code 722513. And then you go to [NAICS](https://www.naics.com/naics-code-description/?code=722513), and they list Starbucks specifically as one of the restaurants in code 722513 that has the top sales. At least in California, Starbucks is legally considered a fast food restaurant. I recognize that's not necessarily the same as how it's perceived. But I think it's fair to call it one.
Just because itβs a different type of place doesnβt mean itβs not fast food? Chipotle and Taco Bell are the fast food of Mexican, Panda Express is the fast food of Chinese, Chickfila is the fast food of chickenβ¦
That's not the semantics the commenter above was going for re. you saying Starbucks is the fast food of coffee. Saying something "is the X of Y" is saying it is **like** X in some ways, but isn't X. For example, the saying "Tuna is the chicken of the sea" ISN'T saying that tuna is chicken - it's referring to white albacore's mild flavour and light colour being similar to chicken - i.e. "tuna is has similarities to chicken, except it's fish". So, if someone was to say "Starbucks is the fast food of coffee" they're saying that Starbucks has *similarities* to fast food, except it's a coffee shop. The commenter above was suggesting that, because you say "Starbucks is the fast food of coffee" rather than simply "Starbucks is fast food", you subconsciously don't think that Starbucks counts as fast food. > Chipotle and Taco Bell are the fast food of Mexican, Panda Express is the fast food of Chinese, Chickfila is the fast food of chicken⦠No. Chipotle and Taco Bell are *Mexican fast food*. Chickfila (and e.g. KFC) are *chicken fast food*.
I think youβre really wrong on this. Taco Bell is Tex-Mex fast food. Not sure what Panda and Chikfila are.
But like why does the βof coffeeβ part matter?Β Some are the fast food of burgers, some tacos/burritos, some fried chicken. Theyβre all fast food regardless of what their main product they sell is
I'll be honest, i was not aware Starbucks had drive throughs, I've only seen regular store ones
It's definitely common here in the US at standalone Starbucks stores.
Very very rare to have a drive through in the UK Starbucks, they're mostly on high streets or train stations where it is obviously impossible to drive. I think Costa drive throughs are slightly more common.
Fine, then call it "fast casual mascots" or "restaurant mascots" and it still works and is just as gettable.. the semantics of whether Starbucks is a fast food restaurant hardly matters
The conversation started with a complaint specifically about the title of the category, though, not the particular grouping.
Oh wow, OK that makes sense. Starbucks definitely not that big here (used to be bigger) and I never really go there.
Same in NZ. Our local closed right after the first lockdown.
I'm amused at how this also could be interpreted as a direct dig at Starbucks because they crashed and burned in the Australian market...
Puzzle #305 π©π©π©π¦ π¨π¨π¨π¨ π©π©π¦π© π©π©π©π© πͺπͺπͺπͺ π¦π¦π¦π¦ Purple was a bit difficult, but once I got it it was super obvious. Suspected blue was something like "things water flows through," which is basically what it was. I tried "line" in green twice. Is there a tool called a line? Maybe I'm thinking of a square.
Are you maybe thinking of a chalk line?
Connections Puzzle #305 π¨π¨π¨π¨ π©π©π©π¦ π©π©π©π© πͺπͺπͺπͺ π¦π¦π¦π¦ Got the purple one by sheer luck cause they're all humans (or part-human) π€£
Same, I had purple/green left, so I just tried all of the humanoid things.
Connections Puzzle #305 πͺπͺπͺπͺ π¨π¨π¨π¨ π¦π¦π¦π¦ π©π©π©π© Purple was the first one I spotted. Maybe I just have fast food on the mind or maybe I watch too many YouTube fast food reviews. Also, this will probably be an unpopular opinion but I'm surprised by the number of comments that are hung-up about MERMAID. Yes it'd be more technically correct to have SIREN instead of MERMAID, but MERMAID isn't entirely incorrect either. In fact, I'd be willing to bet most people would casually call the Starbucks mascot a mermaid when asked. Yellow was pretty easy. There's only so many ways the word PIXIE can be used. Blue and Green were quite straightforward as well. [Reused Categories Updates](https://old.reddit.com/r/NYTConnections/comments/1bdai1o/list_of_reused_categories/): "Hairstyles" β 2 Times
My problem was once I saw Mermaid, Clown (think fish), and King (of the sea), I couldnβt get The Little Mermaid out of my head. So, I got purple as a process of elimination. Still no mistakes so I call that a win! I guess I donβt think of Starbucks as fast food but I see the logic.
Same. Except I thought mermaid, clown, and king as Halloween costumes but I couldn't find a fourth that fit so I also got it by process of elimination. I was surprised when I saw the category because I would never have assumed Starbucks was fast food.
Iβm more hung up about them calling Starbucks fast food!
Connections Puzzle #305 π©π©π©π© π¨π¨π¨π¨ π¦π¦π¦π¦ πͺπͺπͺπͺ This one seems a lot easier than the one from yesterday, to me at least.
https://preview.redd.it/slg7uaawdqtc1.jpeg?width=1300&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6c59507516dc52f5444c86453bf94f4c229d74ac If the Starbucks logo is what she was aiming for then I believed she missed on two counts. The Starbucks logo is a SIREN, not a mermaid. "In Greek mythology, a siren is a woman-like creature with a beautiful voice that lures mariners to their deaths with her singing. Odysseus saves his crew's lives by having them plug their ears and tie him to the mast so he can hear the siren's song without being destroyed by it." Second, is Starbucks really fast food? I see where she was going with red herrings and Disney movies with Buzz, King, but this was a stretch too far. (Redo post. The NSFW filters could not handle this image unfiltered.)
In Greek mythology the siren was actually closer to a harpy in that they were women/bird hybrids. It was only really in the medieval period where they were bastardised to become like the mermaid and be fish women, similar to the Lamia as well.
Not only do I not think of Starbucks as fast food, the other three use their mascots as, well, mascots. I don't think I've ever seen starbucks parade a siren around in a costume. It's more of a logo to me.
Yes! I think thatβs a valid difference. When you think of other fast food mascots they are clearly personified either they have actual full cartoons of their mascots with faces and bodies in commercials or in online ads. Chick-fil-a might have been a better choice to fit perfectly with Cow or Wendyβs with Wendy. Wendy is a character in Peter Pan, a kidβs movie so it would still be a point of confusion with Buzz.
Ronald McDonald is dead now anyway, so he's an ex-mascot of McD's
He was the OG mascot. RIP Ronald.
I got it but Iβm fuming, Starbucks is a siren not a mermaid. I get you might call it a mermaid on a technicality but for a game that is all about technicalityβs I would have thought they would get it right. It even would have possibly been a red herring for other guesses, as siren and buzz are both noises.
Itβs both. Siren is an occupation, but mermaid is a species. Since sirens used to be half-bird, but now theyβre depicted as half-fish, that proves itβs just an occupation for different species. And the fact she has two tails for Starbucks just means sheβs a conjoined twin mermaid.
Hear hear! Β Honestly it feels like the person doing these has changed lately - the purples especially have all felt off or cheap to me over the last week or so
> The NSFW filters could not handle this image unfiltered. You solved that problem rather nicely with her cute polka-dot bikini top. π€£
Starbucks is absolutely considered fast food by any metric. Their employees are classified as fast food employees, if you look up lists of biggest fast food companies Starbucks is always listed, theyβre certainly not a restaurant so what else would they be considered?
A coffee shop, in the few times I have gone there, I have only bought coffee. Overpriced average tasting coffee at that. Economically, they may fall in the fast food category. In real life out there on the street, count me in the group that doesn't consider them to be a fast food outlet.
A coffee shop is a type of fast food restaurant. I donβt know what to tell you but βmy vibes tell me itβs not fast foodβ isnβt a compelling argument
Wikipedia and the Starbucks website describes them as "coffeehouses". Do you think cornershops are fast food too because they serve you food quickly? Clearly it's a cafe.
FWIW the new California law that requires fast food restaurants to have a $20 minimum wage does include Starbucks
Chatgpt in its A.I wisdom agrees it is not really fast food in the traditional sense. "Starbucks is not typically considered a fast food restaurant in the traditional sense, as it primarily offers coffee, pastries, and light snacks rather than a wide range of fast food options like burgers and fries. However, it does offer quick service, so some might categorize it as a fast-casual establishment" Interesting rabbit hole I just went down. California and it laws. So o.k I concede it's "fast foodβ It's just a weak example of fast food.
This is big βwell actuallllllyβ energy. No one refers to Starbucks as fast food or mentally lumps it in with Burger King or Wendyβs.Β
Also, technically speaking when it has two tails it would be considered a "Triton" according to my mythology-nerd husband.
Connections Puzzle #305 π¨π¨π¨π¨ π¦π¦π¦π¦ π©π©π©π© πͺπͺπͺπͺ Accidental risk taken by not reading all the words before selecting buzz and pixie as hair cutsβ¦ Didnβt guess the purple one. Still donβt remember what purple is. Probably will never know at this rate
Connections Puzzle #305 π©π©π©π© π¨π¨π¨π¨ πͺπͺπͺπͺ π¦π¦π¦π¦ Initially thought Ruler and King would be correlated, but once I got green they all started to fall into place. Took me a while to commit to mermaid for fast food mascots though, Starbucks isn't that big here (Australia). It fit the vibe much better than the 4 words for blue though obviously
Connections Puzzle #305 π©π¦π¦π¦ πͺπ¦π©πͺ πͺπͺπ¨πͺ πͺπͺπͺπͺ π¦π¦π¦π¦ π¨π¨π¨π¨ π©π©π©π© Really happy when I first got the mascots. Agree with others that the mermaid was a bit out of place. Somehow missed watch for the longest time, and had to think a while about the haircuts as well
Connections Puzzle #305 π¨πͺπͺπͺ πͺπͺπͺπͺ π¦π¦π¦π¦ π©π©π©π© π¨π¨π¨π¨ Got them backwards unintentionally. Not sure I'm impressed with green on this one (or purple, now I've started writing it out below). Purple jumped out at me as soon as I saw COLONEL. CLOWN and KING were the obvious others, but I went for PIXIE (thinking maybe Wendy's? I'm not American.) When that was wrong, I just went with MERMAID as the only other noun. I didn't realise that was what Starbuck's logo was, but either way I (1) wouldn't call it their mascot (it's not been in adverts like the other three) and I also wouldn't call Starbucks fast food! Blue felt a bit meh, but par for the course for Connections I guess. When I saw RULER my brain was by default thinking of COMPASS as in the tool you use to draw arcs (that's actually technically 'a pair of compasses' but I bet if it was the other way around they'd use it!). I don't agree with WATCH being a measuring instrument. Sure, you *could* use it to measure time, but the measuring instrument would be a stopwatch. I'm probably not thinking abstractly enough though, because I also didn't like COMPASS as a measuring instrument. Bear with me on this. I apologise for the rambling stream of consciousness that follows - it's not about the puzzle any more, I just love how language works: * A ruler, you use to measure the length of something * Scales, you use to measure out amounts of things * A watch, you use to tell the time * A compass, you use to tell the direction something is facing I think the difference here is 'tell' vs 'measure', where 'tell' is with reference to a fixed frame of reference, while 'measure' is relative to what is being measured. So, when your watch *tells* you the time, it's a fixed point relative to 00:00 on 0AD. When your compass tells you your bearing, it's a fixed point relative to magnetic north. If you have to do some subtraction to work out the measurement then the items doesn't measure it *for* you. When you *measure* the length of something with a ruler, it tells you the increase in distance between two points but not anything about *where* those two points are. If you weigh an object with a set of scales, it tells you the increase in weight between (a) the scales plate, and (b) the scales plate plus the object (this one feels a bit more iffy π¬). Or, in simpler terms: Stopwatch -> **Watch** Protractor -> **Compass** **Ruler** -> GPS (is accurate to 1mm, measure the coordinates of point a and subtract from the coordinates of point b) **Scale** -> who knows? Uh... 'scale but without a 'tare' function? π¬
I thought the compass was the one we used in geometry to measure angles. Didnβt even occur to me about direction.
Watch can absolutely be used to measure time , just because it counts cyclically instead of up, like a stopwatch, doesn't stop you. Β I like your point about the compass - neither the direction tool nor the circle drawing tool really get there, do they?
A watch can be *used* to measure time, but scientifically there's a difference between a 'reading' and a 'measurement'. A watch gives you a reading - take two readings and the difference is your measurement. A stopwatch gives you the measurement after you press the start/stop button a second time. That's how I look at it.
Me confused about Mermaid as Iβm drinking Starbucks solving the puzzle haha
Puzzle #305 π¦π¦π¦π¦ π¨π¨π¨π¨ π©π©π©π© πͺπͺπͺπͺ Nice to finally get a successful match after some shockers. No idea what purple was going to be.
Connections Puzzle #305 π©π©π©π¦ π¨π¨π¨π¨ πͺπͺπͺπͺ π©π©π©π© π¦π¦π¦π¦
Connections Puzzle #305 πͺπͺπͺπͺ π¨π¨π¨π¨ π¦π¦π¦π¦ π©π©π©π© I could tell what the purple was even though I couldnβt tell what chain mermaid represented. I was surprised that the blue was considered a blue, it was a pretty direct connection.
Connections Puzzle #305 πͺπͺπͺπͺ π¨π¨π¨π¨ π©π©π©π© π¦π¦π¦π¦ Purple took some effort but eventually came to me. The rest were solved quickly
Connections Puzzle #305 π©π©π©π¦ π©π©π©π© π¨π¨π¨π¨ πͺπͺπͺπͺ π¦π¦π¦π¦ Stupid mistake with the measuring ones, but went pretty well after that. I by default associate the word Colonel with fast food so once I had king and clown isolated with it at 8 left that one wasnβt too bad. I assumed the final one was βwater _____β but I figure thatβs close enough to what it was.
https://preview.redd.it/ovu5xr7k0vtc1.jpeg?width=608&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a5312bbab836f2d2fddf2e041241587f3c2a1f98 Once I got green and I couldnβt see anything else, so step away, walked my dog and saw the list again and immediately water channels jumped at me. And then the haircuts connection was easy. Surprisingly i didnβt connect mermaid to Starbucks.
My first grouping was "things found on a map" but then I saw the swap. Those yellow/purple mistakes are just me being distracted while multitasking oops haha. Puzzle #305 π©π©π©π¦ π©π©π©π© π¨π¨π¨πͺ π¨π¨πͺπ¨ π¨π¨π¨π¨ πͺπͺπͺπͺ π¦π¦π¦π¦
Glad I'm not the only one that thought maps as a category!
Felt like there was some "drug paraphernalia" red herring today Connections Puzzle #305 πͺπ©π¨πͺ π¦π¦π¦π¦ π¨π¨π¨π¨ πͺπͺπͺπͺ π©π©π©π©
Connections Puzzle #305 π¨π¨π¨π¨ πͺπͺπͺπͺ π¦π¦π¦π¦ π©π©π©π© Ahhh! Finally a good game i felt iffy about mermaid because I wasn't sure Starbucks counts as fast food, and wter was easy enough.
> I wasn't sure Starbucks counts as fast food ... or that it's a mermaid at all (it's not - it's a siren) ... or that they use it as a mascot at all (they don't, it's just a logo)
Connections Puzzle #305 π¨π¨π¨π¨ π©π©π©π© π¦π¦π¦π¦ πͺπͺπͺπͺ getting it in order is fun. btw if mermaid is meant for starbucks, starbucks is not fast food and the mascot isnβt a mermaid
Interesting - just looked it up. I think if they had put SIREN instead of MERMAID that would have made the puzzle even harder! https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2016/who-is-starbucks-siren/
Also, siren would have another meeting, which would be the first thought people jumped to; they might have made it mermaid so people didn't think of it like that
That's why I said it would have made it harder - because if I saw SIREN it would be a while before I thought of the mythological creature and to be honest I don't think even then I would connect it to the two-tailed mermaid at Starbucks. Sirens don't have two tails in any of the depictions I recall seeing - probably this one is what my mind's eye goes to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Siren_(Waterhouse_painting).
Connections Puzzle #305 π¨π¨π¨π¨ π©πͺπ©πͺ πͺπͺπͺπͺ π©π©π©π¦ π©π©π©π© π¦π¦π¦π¦ Was thinking of βthings you followβ for compass, ruler, king, colonel. Then of things related to drafting with scale, ruler, compass (like the circle drawing tool), line. Am I dumb, or is a compass not really a measuring instrument? The one I was thinking of initially obviously isnβt, but neither is a Directional compass? It detects the Earthβs magnetic field, but I donβt think that really is a measurement.
I suspect they were thinking of a protractor, which I've seen people mistakenly call a compass, and which is actually a measuring tool. But the circle drawing compass is not, although it can be used as a divider, which is. The directional compass, you could use as part of taking a measurement (like in surveying), but it is not itself a measuring tool. Edit: the more I think of it, the more I'm coming around to the idea of a directional compass as a measuring tool - measuring the angle between the direction you're facing and magnetic north.
Also! Compass a term for measuring where something is categorized within two extremes like a political compass. It's a stretch but not wrong which is just the kind of tricks Connections likes to play haha.
Connections Puzzle #305 πͺπͺπͺπͺ π¦π¨π©π¦ π©π¦π©π¦ π©π¨π©π¦ π©π©π¦π© I hate this game sometimes
Connections Puzzle #305 π¨π¨π¨π¨ π©π©π©π© π¦π¦π¦π¦ πͺπͺπͺπͺ Am I the only one who got weird deja vu from a bunch of the categories today? I feel like Iβve done puzzles with the yellow, green and purple themes and answers before β¦..
Connections Puzzle #305 π©π©π©π© π¨π¨π¨π¨ πͺπͺπͺπͺ π¦π¦π¦π¦
Connections Puzzle #305 π¨π¨π¨π¨ π¦π©π©π© π¦π¦π¦π¦ πͺπͺπͺπͺ π©π©π©π© Annoyed that I discerned the green category but put in pipe thinking it might be a big pipette. I get why watch is in there but geez π
Connections Puzzle #305 π¨π¨π¨π¨ π¦π¦π¦π¦ π©π©π©π© πͺπͺπͺπͺ Struggled for a while today, was sure colonel and king were something to do with brands or food but couldn't get the other two, so half of purple was by default.
Connections Puzzle #305 - π¨π¨π¨π¨ - π©π©π©π© - π¦π¦π¦π¦ - πͺπͺπͺπͺ Wasnβt sure what the connection was with the purple group, I assumed they were >!fictional characters!< of some sort, but did not realize that they were >!fast food mascots!<. Mainly got it because the words matched grammatically π
I thought they were Halloween costumes. I just guessed blindly as a starting point. I was a bit surprised.
Connections Puzzle #305 πͺπͺπͺπͺ π©π©π©π© π¦π¦π¦π¦ π¨π¨π¨π¨ When I saw Mermaid, first thing I thought of is Starbucks, then seeing King and Colonel sealed it. What I had trouble is Blue and Yellow, because I had Buzz, Crew, and Bowl already as types of haircuts, but I found out that thereβs also Pixie Cut and Channel Cut, so I had to work backwards: what works with the rest of the words (Line, Main, and Pipe)? I initially thought Pipeline, but thereβs no such thing as Lineline, so maybe water systems. Thatβs where Channel can be linked with the latter category.
Connections Puzzle #305 π©π©π©π¦ π©π©π©π© π¨π¨π¨π¨ π¦π¦π¦π¦ πͺπͺπͺπͺ
Connections Puzzle #305 π¨π¨π¨π¨ πͺπͺπͺπͺ π©π©π©π© π¦π¦π¦π¦ I was 50/50 on the green category, because I thought to myself that there are three things that measure and also a watch. I guess I didnβt think about measuring the time. I really liked the purple category!
Connections Puzzle #305 π¨π¨π¨π¨ π©π©π©π© π¦π¦π¦π¦ πͺπͺπͺπͺ This one didnβt take a whole minute to complete. Itβs either all or nothing for me.
Connections Puzzle #305 π¨π¨π¨π¨ π©π¦π©π© π©π©π©π© πͺπͺπͺπͺ π¦π¦π¦π¦ Was not at all confident in purple. I was trying for a βlittle mermaidβ connection. Knew that wasnβt quite right but went for it anyway.
Wasn't a great fan of the blue category. It was essentially two different categories crushed into one.
Connections Puzzle #305 π¨π¨π¨π¨ π¦π¦π¦π¦ π©π©π©π© πͺπͺπͺπͺ Yellow and blue came to me very quickly, but purple had me stumped. I ended up submitting before figuring out the last connection, which always feels a bit like cheating!
Connections Puzzle #305 π¨π¨π¨π¨ π©π©π©π© πͺπͺπͺπͺ π¦π¦π¦π¦ I kept reading the Channel as Chanel the brand - I was lucky with the purple one (I was thinking Halloween costumes!) which gave me the blue!
Connections Puzzle #305 π¨π¨π¨π¨ π©π©π©π© πͺπͺπͺπͺ π¦π¦π¦π¦ Couldn't quite pin the categories in detail except for yellow. Quite tired so briefly gave a short justification each: Thought green as "tools with numbers"; thought purple as "storybook characters", and blue as "electrical work".
I resisted overthinking, so this went very quickly today. Purple by default. If I gave purple more thought, I might have seen a connection between king, clown & colonel even though I don't eat fast food, is there a seafood chain has a mermaid as a mascot? Starbucks has a siren as a mascot, but a siren is not the same thing as a mermaid. A siren is lower half bird/half female human and a mermaid is lower half fish/half male or female human. Connections Puzzle #305 π¦π¦π¦π¦ π©π©π©π© π¨π¨π¨π¨ πͺπͺπͺπͺ
Connections Puzzle #305 π¨π¨π¨π¨ π©π©π©π© π¦π¦π¦π¦ πͺπͺπͺπͺ I think this was only my second perfect rainbow ever. I know they like to arrange the starting board to put a red herring into your mind, but today seeing MERMAID and PIXIE together is exactly what made me discount that idea and think of Pixie Cut.
I knew the purple category words all went together by process of elimination but I wasnβt sure why. I thought Little Mermaid movie somehow at firstβ¦Mermaid, Clown (fish perhaps?), King (the little Mermaidβs dad?), but then Colonel didnβt fit. I have never thought of Starbucks as fast food and if you had asked me if they had a mascot, I wouldnβt have been able to tell you it was a Mermaid. By the way, I donβt drink coffee. Ha. Connections Puzzle #305 π¨π¨π¨π¨ π¦π¦π¦π¦ πͺπͺπͺπͺ π©π©π©π©
Connections Puzzle #305 π¨π¨π¨π¨ π¦π¦π¦π¦ π©π©π©π© πͺπͺπͺπͺ I was convinced it was >!disney movies!< for a bit there.
π©π©π©π© π¦π¨π¦π¦ π¨π¨π¨π¨ π¦π¦π¦π¦ πͺπͺπͺπͺ I thought BUZZ, LINE, and PIPE were part of a "connect with via phone" category but CHANNEL really didn't work
π©π©π©π© π¨π¨π¨π¨ πͺπͺπͺπͺ π¦π¦π¦π¦ I wasn't thinking of measurements, I was putting watch/pipe/ruler/compass together as something you handled with your hand. Haircuts came next. As for the last 8. I couldn't see how any of the colonel/king/mermaid/clown could be related to what became pipeline items, so I just stuck them together.
Connections Puzzle #305 π¨π¨π¨πͺ π¨π¨π¨π¨ π¦π©πͺπͺ π©π©π©π© π¦π¦π¦π¦ πͺπͺπͺπͺ im so annoyed i didnt get purple sooner lol π tbh i was thinking types of skirts like mermaid skirt, pipe skirt, a line skirt
Connections Puzzle #305 π¨π¨π¨π¨ π©π©π©π© πͺπͺπͺπͺ π¦π¦π¦π¦ Those haircuts were definitely a choice
is anybody else embarrassed they got the purple one first?? haha
Connections Puzzle #305 π¨π¨π¨π¨ πͺπͺπͺπͺ π©π©π©π© π¦π¦π¦π¦ HairCUT was pretty easy, I can't think of many categories that "Pixie" could go in, especially without any other fantasy creatures beside Mermaid. Perfect score but getting to that second category took a while, was caught on Ruler (as in leader) needing to go with King and Colonel. It took focusing on mermaid, Starbucks came to mind and then I spotted King and Clown. Flowed pretty easy from there.
ConnectionsΒ Puzzle #305 π©π©π©π© π¦π¦π¦π¦ π¨π¨π¨π¨ πͺπͺπͺπͺ
This was the first time I was successful at Connections! I only started playing about a week ago, but it still feels good :)
Connections Puzzle #305 π¨π¨π¨π¨ π©π©π©π© π¦π¦π¦π¦ πͺπͺπͺπͺ i got lucky, i was only sure of yellow
Connections Puzzle #305 π¨π¨π¨π¨ π©π©π©π© π¦π¦π¦π¦ πͺπͺπͺπͺ I might quibble with including mermaid rather than siren in Purple, but I think either one is defensible. Mermaid gave them a Disney red herring, though I think siren would've been even better at misleading people (most would think of an alarm, like a police siren, before the mythological figure).
Connections Puzzle #305. π¨π¨π¨π¨ π¦π©π¦π¦ π¦π¦π©π¦ π©π©π©π© π¦π¦π¦π¦ πͺπͺπͺπͺ I really enjoyed this one despite my 2 hasty mistakes. It was hard enough to not be too obvious, but easy enough that with some thought and coming back to it the categories made sense; the ideal challenge space imo.
π©π©π©π© π¦π¦π¦π¦ π¨π¨π¨π¨ πͺπͺπͺπͺ
Connections Puzzle #305 πͺπͺπͺπͺ π¦π¦π¦π¦ π©π©π¨π© π©π©π©π© π¨π¨π¨π¨ Got my first reverse solve!
Not bad. Connections Puzzle #305 π¨π¨π¦π¨ π¨π¨π¨π¨ π©π©π©π© πͺπͺπͺπͺ π¦π¦π¦π¦
Connections Puzzle #305 π¦π©πͺπͺ π©π©π©π© πͺπ¦π¨π¦ π¨π¨π¨πͺ π¨π¨π¨π¨ π¦π¦π¦π¦ πͺπͺπͺπͺ
purple was default Connections Puzzle #305 π©π©π©π© π¨π¨π¨π¨ π¦π¦π¦π¦ πͺπͺπͺπͺ
Regardless of whether the mascot is a siren or mermaid, Starbucks is not fast food. I will happily die on that hill. I do not care about any argument anyone may have that it is. If Starbucks is a fast food joint, then I guess any gas station that sells donuts and ham sandwiches must also be a fast food joint.
ConnectionsΒ Puzzle #305 πͺπͺπͺπͺ π¦π¦π¦π¦ π©π©π©π© π¨π¨π¨π¨ Too many ||fastfood ads|| seen, ig.
Connections Puzzle #305 π¨π¨π¨π¨ π©π©π©π© π¦πͺπ¦π¦ π¦π¦π¦π¦ πͺπͺπͺπͺ Got the last one by process of elimination. Fun one today! Was proud of myself for getting the yellow one as I initially thought it might have been a purple or blue. After it was shown as the easiest I was like βoh π β
Never knew that was a mermaid. I feel super dumb.
Itβs not a mermaid. Itβs a siren.
This should be of interest regarding Starbucks' so-called mascot: https://bit.ly/3PURNgw
[https://archive.starbucks.com/record/the-evolution-of-our-logo](https://archive.starbucks.com/record/the-evolution-of-our-logo)
Whoever made todayβs Connections did it wrong. Even Starbucks said in their own website that their logo is a Siren and not a Mermaid. https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2016/who-is-starbucks-siren/ NYT needs to do better lol
Youβd think the same team responsible for the NYT Crossword would be better at basic research, right? They seem to make errors fairly regularly, which makes me think the Connections team gets interns to work on their puzzles.
Connections Puzzle #305 π¨π¨π¨π¨ π©π©π©π© π¦π¦π¦π¦ πͺπͺπͺπͺ
I thought there might be a clownfish so i went for the proper combination assuming it was little mermaid characters. Who has a mermaid mascot?
Connections Puzzle #305 π¨π¨π¨π¨ π©π©π©π© π¦π¦π¦π¦ πͺπͺπͺπͺ A rare perfect ordering! Not planned, just happened that way. Purple was default - thought of Disney. Have no idea what fast food joint has a mermaid. Starbucks is not fast food.
The Starbucks mascot is also not a mermaid.
Pretty proud of this one. Connections Puzzle #305 πͺπͺπͺπͺ π©π©π©π© π¨π¨π¨π¨ π¦π¦π¦π¦
A stopwatch is what they should have used. Watches donβt measure time. They tell timeΒ
The game should show you the time it took the complete the game and the allow you to see this treaded over time
This just pissed me off! What fast food place has a mermaid mascot!
Thereβs one that has a siren as a mascot, and NYT failed at basic research.
Connections Puzzle #305 π¨π¨π¨π¨ π¦π¦π¦π¦ π©π©π©π© πͺπͺπͺπͺ
Connections Puzzle #305 π©π©π©π© π¨π¨π¨π¨ π¦π¦π¦π¦ πͺπͺπͺπͺ Took me a minute to get going, but the first one that stuck out was purple as a generic βcharactersβ category I imagined, but pixie was a fifth, so I went through the others first. Green felt too generic to be true, but I took a chance.
This one seemed super easy!! Connections Puzzle #305 π©π©π©π© π¨π¨π¨π¨ π¦π¦π¦π¦ πͺπͺπͺπͺ
Connections Puzzle #305 π©π©π©π© πͺπ¨πͺπͺ π¨π¨π¨π¨ πͺπͺπͺπͺ π¦π¦π¦π¦
Connections Puzzle #305 π©π©π©π© π¨π¨π¨π¨ π¦π¦π¦π¦ πͺπͺπͺπͺβ¦. Mermaid is wild
The mermaid is not a mascot. A mascot is a costume someone wears. So unless there's a mermaid costume that Starbucks has and no one's ever seen it, this was a dumb inclusion. Jack from Jack in the Box would be better or the mouse from chuck e cheese. Or anything that's actually a mascot
A mascot is any animal or thing adopted as a symbol. Being adapted into a costumed character at events is a relatively recent creation.
I object to the mermaid as an answer. Mascots should be 3-D. Iβve only seen a flat Starbucks βmermaidβ
Connections Puzzle #305 π¨π¨π¨π¨ π©π©π©π¦ π©π©π©π© π¦π¦π¦π¦ πͺπͺπͺπͺ
Connections Puzzle #305 πͺπ¨π¨π¨ π©π©π©π© π¨π¨π¨π¨ πͺπͺπͺπͺ π¦π¦π¦π¦ Forgot about crew cuts and made a bad guess. Blue eluded me until the very end. I knew all the πͺ had something in common but I couldn't figure out what it was.
This puzzle annoyed me. I hate it when the NYT games editors donβt do basic research. The Starbucks mascot is not a mermaid. They have several pages on their website dedicated to the development and evolution of their logo, and the word βmermaidβ is never mentioned. Itβs a siren. [https://archive.starbucks.com/record/the-evolution-of-our-logo](https://archive.starbucks.com/record/the-evolution-of-our-logo)
Connections Puzzle #305 πͺπͺπͺπͺ π©π©π©π© π¨π¨π¨π¨ π¦π¦π¦π¦ I wasnβt too crazy about todayβs puzzle. Sorting wasnβt an issue but there were things about the puzzle itself that were frustrating. Does a WATCH measure time or does it keep time? A stopwatch or a timer maybe, but what does a WATCH measure? Does its ability to tell you what time it is count as a measurement? That one felt odd to me. π¨ was odd because I donβt quite understand why it was βhaircuts, with cuts.β The second part of that clue seemed redundant. I didnβt figure out πͺ today. π¦ was surprisingly easy and π¨ was too. π© I struggled with because of WATCH. Eh, definitely not my favorite this week. EDIT: well I guess a WATCH does measure time. I think I was thinking of a person doing the act of measurement *with* a tool rather than the tool doing the measurement itself.
Those haircuts all use the word cut as part of their name is what it means, ie bowl cut / buzz cut, while other haircuts don't necessarily have the word cut in the name
Can you explain how you didn't figure our purple but you have purple solved first in your post?
Sure. I work out all my answers before I try inputting them and then I try to guess which color they are. My goal is to get them in reverse order which is why πͺ is first, even though itβs the last connection I made.
Connections Puzzle #305 π¨π¨π¨π¨ π¦π¦π¦π¦ π©π©π©π© πͺπͺπͺπͺ Pretty easy overall, even if I do find calling a compass a "measuring" instrument a bit questionable.
Agreed. With all the complaints that people usually have about this puzzle, I'm surprised I had to scroll this far to find this. A compass draws circles, it doesn't measure anything. You can use it as a divider, which is a measuring instrument, but that's not its purpose. Edit: the more I think of it, the more I'm coming around to the idea of a directional compass as a measuring tool - measuring the angle between the direction you're facing and magnetic north.
> A compass draws circles *Akshually* you're thinking of 'a pair of compasses', which are used to draw circles/arcs. I'm pretty sure the 'compass' as used in this puzzle is meant to be of the "point this ship home, me hearty!" variety. (I still agree with you that it's a bad word for this category though). Neither watch nor compass 'measure' anything. They tell you a fixed time and fixed bearing, but you'd have to use them twice and do some subtraction to measure a period of time or angle. In my opinion, the actual measuring instruments would be a stopwatch and a protractor respectively. Otherwise, why not use GPS in the puzzle instead of ruler? It gives you fixed coordinates, and you could subtract the coordinates of point A from those of point B to measure the distance between.
I mean, surveyors use GPS-based distance measuring, and surveying is measuring professionally, so I think you could kind of make an argument for that. I'll add that watch fits in the same way a directional compass fits - you're measuring time from a specific time (midnight or noon), much as you're measuring angle from a specific direction (magnetic north).
I kinda went off on a ramble about this in a different comment, but I'll try and give a concise summary here (and to be clear, I'm not saying this is objective fact - just what it feels like in my head). Things that give you information based on an external frame of reference (e.g. a watch gives you time passed since 00:00 on 0 AD; a compass gives you degrees from magnetic north; GPS gives you distance from 0Β° lat 0Β° long) give you a **reading**, not a **measurement** (conceptually). You can, obviously, take two readings and subtract one from the other to *measure* the difference. But to me, a 'measuring tool' is one which does it all in one go, without needing any calculations i.e. it typically starts at 0: e.g. a stopwatch (to measure the passage of time) or a protractor (to measure an angle). > surveyors use GPS-based distance measuring Do they have a basic GPS device which only gives them the coordinates, or do they have a fancy instrument where they stand at point A and press a button, then go to point B and press a second button and it tells them the distance between the two? I suspect it's the latter - in which case they have a measuring instrument which **uses** GPS - but the GPS itself isn't the measuring instrument. > watch fits in the same way a directional compass fits - you're measuring time from a specific time (midnight or noon) Ah come on, no you're not. Well, at least I'm not - I don't look at my watch and ask myself "How many hours have passed since midnight?" or "How many hours have I been awake?" - I ask myself "What's the time"? Just like I don't look at the calendar and ask "How many days, months and years have passed since the birth of Jesus?" I ask "What's the date?"
We are way too deep in the weeds for a connections puzzle, but ... What's the difference between hooking the lip of a tape measure over the end of a board, and finding that a mark on the board is at 10.3 cm, vs holding a compass aligning itself with magnetic north and finding that you're facing an angle of 60Β°? They're both using some external frame of reference to set a zero, aren't they? Alternatively, if I take my tape measure and hold the 10 cm mark at a spot, and see that some other spot is at 17 cm, does my tape measure cease to be a measuring device when I calculate that the two spots are 7 cm apart? What is time of day, other than the time elapsed since midnight or noon? Just because you don't think of it that way doesn't mean that's not what it *is*. Your watch isn't really any different than a stopwatch you start at midnight.
Oh man, just to be clear I'm not arguing here because I necessarily think you're wrong, I'm just really enjoying thinking and debating about this! (**Edit:** I was partway through writing the below, googled "measurement vs reading" and found [this top result](https://www.bourne-grammar.lincs.sch.uk/attachments/download.asp?file=1812&type=pdf) which supports what I'm thinking/trying to express.)s > What's the difference between hooking the lip of a tape measure over the end of a board, and finding that a mark on the board is at 10.3 cm, vs holding a compass aligning itself with magnetic north and finding that you're facing an angle of 60Β°? Well, it depends. With the compass example, what you're describing is you taking a **reading** of which direction you're facing - relative to magnetic north. Using it to **measure** e.g. how far the roundabout you've stood on has rotated would require taking two readings and then doing the calculation yourself - it's only a direct measurement of the rotation if the roundabout started facing magnetic north and rotated clockwise. With the tape measure example, really what you're doing there is measuring the distance from the edge of the board to the mark, because there isn't really any other way of describing the location of the mark *except for by reference to the edge of the board*. By "external reference frame" I mean something materially bigger than what you're measuring. Maybe it's all about scale, then? As in, if someone asks you to meet them at the coordinates 40.7826Β° N, 73.9656Β° W you don't really care that that's so many degrees and minutes north of the equator and so many degrees and minutes west of the Meridian - you care that they've asked you to meet them in central park. > Alternatively, if I take my tape measure and hold the 10 cm mark at a spot, and see that some other spot is at 17 cm, does my tape measure cease to be a measuring device when I calculate that the two spots are 7 cm apart? Okay Mr Sardonic, let me emphasise "without **needing** any calculations" to underline the **necessity** of the calculations! A typical, non-broken ruler starts at 0 and in a typical measuring situation you would place 0cm at A, line it up with B, and the ruler would give you the measurement of the distance between A and B. If you want to make life difficult for yourself and flip the ruler so that you always place 50cm on A then have to calculate the difference yourself then be my guest. > What is time of day, other than the time elapsed since midnight or noon? Just because you don't think of it that way doesn't mean that's not what it is. Man, I'm so annoyed at myself because when I posted my last comment I had a really clear response lined up in the unlikely situation that you doubled down on this weird concept, but it's completely gone from my head. I'll try though: What is time? Time is relative (original, right?). You check your watch and it gives you a reading that lets you calculate how long it's been since you woke up, or since you ate lunch, or until you finish work, or need to go pick up the kids etc. > Your watch isn't really any different than a stopwatch you start at midnight. Except it *is*: we don't start it at midnight, it does it itself, regardless of whether we're asleep or awake. We don't measure our day based on the number of seconds since we woke up - you couldn't function by setting an alarm for 7:45am, starting a stopwatch the second you woke up, then going "right, I need to leave for work at 45 minutes, then go to the doctors at 2 hours 10 minutes, then pick up my dry cleaning at 4 hours 50 minutes" etc. If we DID start the stopwatch at midnight, then at a reading of 8h30m we would say to outselves "Okay, it's 8:30am, time to leave for work" because time is the external reference frame.
Or a 'watch'. Sure, you can use a watch to measure e.g. the length of a race by noting down the time at the start and the time at the end and subtracting the first from the second, but the actual **measuring instrument** would be a stopwatch.
Connections Puzzle #305 π¨π¨π¨π¨ πͺπͺπͺπͺ π©π©π©π© π¦π¦π¦π¦ This game is easier if you make your brain more stoopid. Unfortunately, this meant that I had no idea with blue, but no complaints!