A tritone is a musical interval of three whole tones or six semitones; the dated puzzle uses TRITONE in a separate wordplay category.
Tritone means a musical interval made up of three whole tones, or six semitones. Supplied research also records the historical nickname “the devil’s interval,” while the Connections board uses TRITONE in the exact category STARTING WITH FIGURES FROM GREEK MYTH.
For the dated board’s separate wordplay use, follow the August 29, 2026 Connections puzzle and compare TRITONE with the other three official entries.
How “tritone” is used
In music theory, a tritone names an interval of three whole tones or six semitones. The supplied research describes it as a specific interval and also says that it can sound particularly dissonant. Those details give the term a precise technical meaning without requiring a broader claim about every musical style.
Illustrative examples include “The exercise asks the student to identify the tritone” and “The melody moves across a tritone.” These are natural usage examples, not quotations from the supplied sources. In a theory discussion, the numerical description is the clearest way to distinguish the term.
Contextual examples
“A tritone spans three whole tones.” “The teacher described the interval as six semitones.” “The article discusses the nickname ‘the devil’s interval.’” The first two examples use the supplied music-theory definition; the third refers only to the historical nickname reported in the research.
Keeping the measurements together helps avoid a vague use of “tritone.” The supported definition is about an interval, while the nickname is a separate piece of usage history. A reader can mention both, but should not treat the nickname as the definition itself. In a rehearsal note, for example, a musician might identify a passage by its interval rather than by its nickname. That keeps the technical description central and avoids suggesting that the historical label supplies a different measurement.
Common mistake
A common mistake is to let the music meaning determine the puzzle category. TRITONE does have the specialized definition above, but the verified source places it with AT LAST, HERALD, and HYDRANT under STARTING WITH FIGURES FROM GREEK MYTH. The board’s category relationship is separate from the music-theory definition.
Another mistake is to repeat the historical nickname as though it were a universal judgment about the sound. The supplied evidence supports reporting that it was nicknamed “the devil’s interval”; it does not support extending that statement into an unsourced cultural conclusion.
Connections context
The official category is STARTING WITH FIGURES FROM GREEK MYTH. Its four exact words are AT LAST, HERALD, HYDRANT, and TRITONE. The source establishes that category relationship; this article does not add an unsupported account of which mythological figures are represented or how the words are formed.
Return to the August 29, 2026 solved Connections board to inspect the complete official set after separating it from the music definition.
Group logic
TRITONE is a useful reminder that a specialized dictionary meaning may not be the board’s grouping rule. The reliable solve is to test the exact remaining set: AT LAST, HERALD, HYDRANT, and TRITONE. The verified source assigns all four to STARTING WITH FIGURES FROM GREEK MYTH, so the category must be preserved literally.
Use the August 29, 2026 Connections group explanation to compare the wordplay group with the completed automotive, salad, and keyboard groups.