FOURSURE
September 26, 2026 Puzzle Breakdown
Four groups, four words each — here's the connections between today's words.
How everyone did today
Things seen at the shore
Boardwalk, Ocean, Beach, Umbrellas
We kick things off with the easiest set of the day, taking a straightforward trip to the coast. Boardwalk, ocean, beach, and umbrellas are all familiar sights you would expect to find at the shore. Consider it a gentle warm-up before the rest of the board starts fighting back.
Spaces on a Monopoly board
Jail, Chance, Free parking, Community Chest
You probably recognized these the moment you passed Go, as each one represents a classic space on a standard Monopoly board. Whether you were hoping to collect a windfall or just trying to avoid paying rent, none of these require you to buy any real estate. It makes for a fairly straightforward detour at rank two.
Sand ___
Storm, Castle, Crab, wich
You were looking for things that naturally follow sand to complete a common compound word or beachside concept. Storm, castle, and crab make the leap easily enough, while wich relied on you catching a rather blatant phonetic spelling of a lunchtime classic. Slotting in as the second-hardest group today, it was mostly a test of whether you could look past that severed suffix.
Words or phrases ending in bugs
En Passant, Supafly, Blouse, mammoth
You had to look at the tail end of each word or phrase to catch the creeping critters hiding in plain sight. Today's trickiest set concealed an ant in en passant, a fly in supafly, a louse in blouse, and a moth in mammoth. Hopefully spotting an insect masquerading as a garment or a chess move did not bug you too much.
Why these four groups
This grid leans heavily into seaside imagery to create early friction, using Boardwalk to tempt Monopoly enthusiasts away from the shore while Crab and Castle beg to join Beach and Ocean instead of the Sand compound group. The difficulty curve holds up because that top layer resolves quickly once you spot the pure thematic density of the coastline, while the Monopoly properties offer a rigid, unmistakable secondary anchor. That leaves the late game properly challenging: no amount of beach intuition will help you parse En Passant, Blouse, or Supafly until you abandon the coast entirely and look for hidden insects.