How Common Ground works

You get sixteen words. They can be split into four groups of four, and each group has one word in common.

Take graph, rice, toilet and wall. They all go with paper: graph paper, rice paper, toilet paper, wallpaper. So those four belong together, and paper is the word connecting them.

There is no extra theme to figure out. You are looking for four groups, each built around one hidden word.

The hidden word can go before or after the four words. With paper, it comes after: graph paper, rice paper, toilet paper, wallpaper. But sometimes it comes first. Stand works with firm, still, tall and alone: stand firm, stand still, stand tall, stand alone.

If you think you have a connection, try the hidden word both ways around.

Making a guess. Pick four words and submit them as a group. If they belong together, they are locked in and you move on to the rest. If your guess is wrong, it counts as a mistake. You get four wrong guesses before the puzzle ends.

There is a new Common Ground every day, and every earlier day stays in the puzzle archive if you want to keep playing.

There are two more to play. Today's Phrasicle is the word grid with a saying at the end, and Missing Link is the endless one, a single chain at a time.