NYT's 'Connections' Suggestions and Solutions for Thursday, January 2nd Paraphrase:
NYT's 'Connections' Suggestions and Solutions for Thursday, January 2nd Paraphrase:
Hey there, folks! Hope you're all getting over any New Year's Day hangovers and settling into 2025 smoothly.
I shared a little tale about a mishap my ex had on New Year's last time. Now it's my turn to spill the beans.
One year, we decided to stay in and cook a fancy dinner. The knife I got for Christmas for shucking oysters was my assignment. But I got so engrossed in the NYE celebrations on a live stream back home that I forgot to put on the protective glove. You can probably guess what happened next. I've got a half-inch scar there ever since.
Another New Year, we were in Sicily and decided to cook a meal at our rental. But neither of us was feeling well enough to eat it. At least the food stayed fresh for the next day when we were feeling better.
I've started a Discord group for Connections and this column, where we can all chat about each game and other fun stuff. Sharing your thoughts and strategies with other players is always interesting, so join in! Plus, it's a great way to give feedback or point out any mistakes I might have made.
Today's NYT Connections hints and answers for Friday, January 3, are coming up.
How To Play Connections
Connections is a free, popular daily word game from the New York Times. You get a new puzzle every day at midnight. You can play on the NYT website or app.
You're given a grid of 16 words. Your mission is to arrange them into four groups of four by figuring out the connections between them. The groups could consist of various things, like objects you can click, names for research participants, or words that start with body parts.
There's only one solution for each puzzle, and you'll need to be careful with words that might fit into more than one category. Tinkering with the word order might help you uncover connections.
Each group is color-coded. The yellow group is generally the easiest to figure out, followed by the blue and green groups. The purple group is the most challenging, often involving wordplay.
Select four words you think belong together and press Submit. If you guess wrong, you'll lose a life. If you're close to a correct group, you might be tipped off that you're just one word away.
If you make four mistakes, that's game over. Let's avoid that with some hints, or if you're truly stuck, today's Connections answers. Sharing your results on social media and group chats is a breeze, like with Wordle.
If you have an NYT All Access or Games subscription, you can access the archive of all previous Connections games.
Google is your friend if you need my hints for a specific day. Just click here and add the date of the game to your search query.
What Are Today’s Connections Hints?
Slowly scroll! The hints for each group of today's Connections puzzle will come after the hints for each group, but without revealing which words belong in which group.
Today's 16 words are...
- TIME
- CLOCK
- DONUT
- PADDLE
- TIRED
- MONTH
- BEAT
- REGISTER
- CATCH
- TAG
- INCH
- DAYS
- METER
- JUROR
- NOTICE
- RHYTHM
The hints for today’s Connections groups are:
- Yellow group — see
- Green group — have steady rhythm
- Blue group — part of a set of 12
- Purple group — animals that bark
What Are Today’s Connections Groups?
Need a little extra help?
Warning: we're getting into spoiler territory.
Today’s Connections groups are...
- Yellow group — observe
- Green group — consistent tempo
- Blue group — member of the dozen
- Purple group — barking dogs
What Are Today’s Connections Answers?
Spoiler alert! Don't scroll any further until you're ready to see today's Connections answers.
This is your final warning!
Today’s Connections answers are...
- Yellow group — observe (CATCH, CLOCK, NOTICE, REGISTER)
- Green group — consistent tempo (BEAT, METER, RHYTHM, TIME)
- Blue group — member of the dozen (DONUT, INCH, JUROR, MONTH)
- Purple group — barking dogs (DAYS, PADDLE, TAG, TIRED)
I'm still on a roll with my 11-game win streak. Here's how I did this time.
I nailed the yellows right off the bat this time around. Initially, I thought RHYTHM might fit into a wordplay crew, but then I saw it fit in with the rest of the greens better.
I couldn't make out anything that seemed fitting for the blues or purples, although I had a hunch that DAYS and MONTH would land in different categories. I took a wild guess with TIRED, JUROR, PADDLE, and MONTH. No luck there, which meant I had two blues and two purples in my guess.
The next attempt was DONUT, DAYS, TIRED, and PADDLE, which left me one step away from a group. That's when things fell into place: you're dog-tired, you spend dog days, and you paddle a doggy boat, so TAG had to be the final piece of the puzzle.
By the way, if you've been hesitating about signing up for the aforementioned Discord, you should know that a) everyone in the community has been fantastic so far, and b) now, there's a section for members to show off their pet photos. There are already so many cute pictures on display.
Getting back to today's Connections challenges, I didn't pinpoint the blue connection before submitting my response, but, of course, that was the link between them. Mmm, donuts.
That's about it for today's Connections hints and solutions. Don't forget to visit my blog tomorrow for hints and solutions for the Friday game, if you need them.
P.S. I almost decided to delete my planned recommendation to include Florence + the Machine's excellent "Dog Days Are Over" given today's purple group, but I incorporated that song into the column a few months back.
Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" came on the radio the other day, and even though I've heard it a thousand times, I misheard one of the lyrics and found it incredibly amusing. I heard "I walk alone" as "I wore cologne." Anyway, it's a great song. I had an incredible time watching them perform it live last summer.
Have a fantastic day! Make sure to stay hydrated! Give someone you love a call!
If you enjoy my content, please do follow my blog for more Connections and other word game coverage, as well as some video game news, insights, and analysis. It helps me out a lot! Also, follow me on Bluesky*! It's a lot of fun there.
Join the Discord group to discuss the daily NYT Connections game and share your strategies. Even if you're stuck, you can find today's answers or hints on the group.
For those new to the game, Connections is a free daily word game from the New York Times. You can play it at midnight every day on the NYT website or app. The objective is to arrange 16 words into four groups by figuring out the connections between them.
If you don't have a solution, you can use the hints or check the answers for today's game. Today's hints suggest that the yellow group represents 'see', the green group has a 'steady rhythm', the blue group is a 'member of the dozen', and the purple group consists of 'barking dogs'.
Join the community to uncover the answers, discuss strategies, and share your experiences playing NYT Connections. You can also get tips and hints for tomorrow's game on the blog. Don't forget to stay hydrated, give someone you love a call, and enjoy your day!