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 #564) - today's words
Today's NYT Connections words are…
- TIDY
- ALA
- HANDSOME
- ELDER
- SPRUCE
- LIKE
- PINE
- MISS
- HEALTHY
- ROUGHLY
- ARK
- PALM
- ABOUT
- RESPECTABLE
- ORE
- AROUND
NYT Connections today (game #564) - hint #1 - group hints
What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: Generally similar
- GREEN: Evergreens
- BLUE: A decent portion
- PURPLE: Four of the 50
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 #564) - hint #2 - group answers
What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: APPROXIMATELY
- GREEN: TREES
- BLUE: SIZABLE, AS AN AMOUNT
- PURPLE: U.S. STATE ABBREVIATIONS, PER AP STYLE GUIDE
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #564) - the answers
The answers to today's Connections, game #564, are…
- YELLOW: APPROXIMATELY ABOUT, AROUND, LIKE, ROUGHLY
- GREEN: TREES ELDER, PALM, PINE, SPRUCE
- BLUE: SIZABLE, AS AN AMOUNT HANDSOME, HEALTHY, RESPECTABLE, TIDY
- PURPLE: U.S. STATE ABBREVIATIONS, PER AP STYLE GUIDE ALA, ARK, MISS, ORE
- My rating: Moderate
- My score: 2 mistakes
I wasted time today thinking HANDSOME, HEALTHY and SPRUCE were somehow connected – I was imagining some shaving gel commercial featuring some buff man with a chiseled jaw admiring himself in the mirror and thinking how, erm, ARK he is. Sometimes when you can’t find the fourth word it’s for a good reason.
After seeing the tree link, I got there in the end – although those state abbreviations were far from obvious and I would never have got them if it wasn’t for the fact that they were the final Purple four. We still click on those last four words like we knew all along though, right? Yeah, yeah U.S. STATE ABBREVIATIONS, PER AP STYLE GUIDE, yeah, yeah, I knew that.
Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Wednesday, 25 December, game #563)
- YELLOW: CELESTIAL OBJECTS COMET, MOON, PLANET, STAR
- GREEN: ARCHERS CUPID, HAWKEYE, ROBIN HOOD, SAGITTARIUS
- BLUE: FEMALE ANIMALS JENNY, NANNY, QUEEN, VIXEN
- PURPLE: "S.N.L." CAST MEMBERS FEY, RUDOLPH, SHANNON, STRONG
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.
