LinkCue

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Sixteen words, four hidden groups: sort them before your fourth mistake.

Play LinkCue

on linerko.com

LinkCue puzzle 292 for Monday 19 October: sixteen word tiles such as PACIFIC, TANGO, SEA and CHESS, with four mistake dots and Shuffle, Deselect all and Submit

LinkCue is a daily word grouping puzzle from Linerko. Each numbered board shows sixteen words that split into four secret categories of four, and you pick them out one group at a time with four mistakes to spare. A near miss is called out as one away.

About LinkCue

LinkCue is one of the free daily games on Linerko, a small independent puzzle site. It follows the format of NYT Connections: sixteen words on a four by four board, hiding four categories of four words each. The boards are numbered and dated, so everyone plays the same set on the same day.

You select four words you think belong together and submit them. A correct group locks in place and shows its theme; a wrong one costs one of your four mistakes, and a guess with three of four right is flagged as one away. Some words are planted to fit more than one group, so a board such as one where SEA, BEE and JAY sit beside oceans and dances asks you to work out which reading of each word is the right one. Shuffle, deselect and give up buttons sit under the board.

There is no account: your streak and stats are kept in the browser, the finished board shows how many mistakes you used, and a share button posts a spoiler-free grid of coloured squares when you finish. It suits players who already do Connections and want a second grouping puzzle each day.

LinkCue sits beside Linerko's other daily games: WordCue for words, NumCue for numbers, GeoCue for places, LogiCue, PrintCue, OrderCue and PriceCue.

How to play LinkCue

Read all sixteen words on the board and look for four that share something.
Select those four words and press Submit.
If they form a group, it locks in place and shows its theme; if not, you lose one of your four mistakes, and three of four right is shown as one away.
Keep going until all four groups are found or the mistakes run out, then share your grid.

Screenshots

LinkCue 292 solved on desktop: Homophones of letters, Oceans, Dance styles and ___ Board groups in colour, one mistake used, and a Share result button

LinkCue 292 on a phone: the Oceans and Dance styles groups solved, eight word tiles left in two rows below them

Tips

Look for the words that could fit two groups first: the board is built with that overlap on purpose.
Solve the group you are surest of first, so fewer words are left to confuse the rest.
Use Shuffle when the layout keeps suggesting the same wrong set.
After a one away, swap just one word rather than starting the group again.