Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need clues.
What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
NYT Connections today (game #562) - today's words
Today's NYT Connections words are…
- LIONS
- TIGERS
- BEARS
- OH MY
- DEAR
- JAYS
- BILLS
- USE
- BYE
- BEES
- PLEASE
- CLOSE
- TIGHT
- GIMME
- EASE
- INTIMATE
NYT Connections today (game #562) - hint #1 - group hints
What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: Follow the Yellow Brick Road
- GREEN: Companion
- BLUE: Letter soundalikes
- PURPLE: Big, big, big tunes
Need more clues?
We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…
NYT Connections today (game #562) - hint #2 - group answers
What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: "LIONS AND TIGERS AND BEARS, OH MY!"
- GREEN: BELOVED, AS A FRIEND
- BLUE: WORDS THAT SOUND LIKE PLURAL LETTERS
- PURPLE: WHEN TRIPLED, HIT SONG TITLES
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #562) - the answers
The answers to today's Connections, game #562, are…
- YELLOW: "LIONS AND TIGERS AND BEARS, OH MY!" BEARS, LIONS, OH MY, TIGERS
- GREEN: BELOVED, AS A FRIEND CLOSE, DEAR, INTIMATE, TIGHT
- BLUE: WORDS THAT SOUND LIKE PLURAL LETTERS BEES, EASE, JAYS, USE
- PURPLE: WHEN TRIPLED, HIT SONG TITLES BILLS, BYE, GIMME, PLEASE
- My rating: Hard
- My score: 2 mistakes
I’m sure I wasn’t alone in thinking that at least one of the groups today was about sports. This hunch was made even stronger by the fact that the LIONS and TIGERS are both Detroit teams.
The Lion we were looking for, though, was the cowardly one that leaps into the path of Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz as they fret about the existence of "LIONS AND TIGERS AND BEARS, OH MY!"
NSYNC and boy bands in general are a bit of a musical blindspot for me, so I missed BYE in the song titles, using a mistake on USE (although on reflection “Use Use Use Your Imagination” by Gorgon City would be a little obscure).
Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Monday, 23 December, game #561)
- YELLOW: HOMOPHONES EWE, U, YEW, YOU
- GREEN: NECKLINES BOAT, CREW, SCOOP, V
- BLUE: WAYS TO EXPRESS 1,000 GRAND, K, M, THOU
- PURPLE: SUPER 8, BOWL, GLUE, TUESDAY
What is NYT Connections?
NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.
On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.
It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.
It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
