Common Ground (Phrasicle)

About Common Ground (Phrasicle)

Common Ground is the second daily game on Phrasicle, next to its main word grid. It borrows the shape of Connections, sixteen words to sort into four groups of four, but narrows the kind of link: every group is held together by one hidden word that forms a phrase or compound with each member.

The hidden word can come after the four words (graph paper, rice paper, toilet paper, wallpaper) or before them (stand firm, stand still, stand tall, stand alone), so trying a candidate both ways round is part of the game. There is no extra theme to find beyond the four hidden words.

You submit four words at a time. Correct groups lock in; wrong guesses count as mistakes, and four ends the puzzle. When the board is over, every group and its hidden word is shown. The board changes at midnight US Eastern time and is the same for everyone, and earlier days stay in the archive.

It suits Connections players who want a tighter, fairer rule, and anyone who enjoys compound words and set phrases.

How to play Common Ground (Phrasicle)

1. Open Common Ground and look over the sixteen words.
2. Find four that all go with one hidden word, before or after them.
3. Select the four and submit; correct groups lock in.
4. Find all four groups before you make four mistakes.

Tips

• Try each candidate hidden word both before and after the four words.
• Words like head, water or ground can fit several hidden words: place them last.
• If two groups seem to overlap, look for the one word that fits only one of them.

Questions