New York Times dumbs down puzzling

I am an avid Wordle fan.  I was playing before the New York times swooped in and bought it from Josh Wardle for an undisclosed seven-figure sum in January 2021.

Naturally, they have attempted to monetise it and we endure daily adverts, and a constant nag screen to sign up to their "Games subscription". I can just about tolerate that.

On a positive, Wordle is now part of their Games suite and I have since become a Connections and Spanagram fan.

Last week a new thing appeared -- hints for Worlde and Connections.  Honestly, why are the New York Times dumbing it down?  What's the world coming to when you can't accept failure some times? Not every day needs to be a winning day.

There are days when I struggle with Connections and don't get it.  Now, the challenge is gone -- I can just look at the hints for letters, categories and/or the actual answer.

Having said that, I am a grown up and I choose not to look. 

The element of challenge has now gone.  There's a group of us online who share our scores each day -- just for fun.  The question now.... did you use any hints? 
😡

Are you a fan?  Thoughts?