Looking for Sunday’s Connections hints and answers instead? You can find them here:
Hey, everyone! This is when I’d usually say something like “welcome to the start of a new week,” but time is incredibly nebulous during the holidays.
I don’t know about you all, but I’m more or less in autopilot mode right now. Don’t get me wrong, I’m enjoying the time off and relaxing with family and friends, but I’m used to having a daily routine, and it’s a little disarming to be away from that. (I’m not complaining, though! Taking a break from the day-to-day is rarely a bad thing.)
Before we get started, I’ve started a discussion group for Connections and this column on Discord. You can chat about each game (and other topics) with me and other folks. I’m always interested to find out how other people approach the game, so join us! It’s fun.
It’s also the best way to give me any feedback about the column, especially on the rare(!) occasions that I mess something up.
Today’s NYT Connections hints and answers for Monday, December 23, are coming right up.
How To Play Connections
Connections is a free, popular New York Times daily word game. You get a new puzzle at midnight every day. You can play on the NYT website or Games app.
You’re presented with a grid of 16 words. Your task is to arrange them into four groups of four by figuring out the links between them. The groups could be things like items you can click, names for research study participants or words preceded by a body part.
There’s only one solution for each puzzle, and you’ll need to be careful when it comes to words that might fit into more than one category. You can shuffle the words to perhaps help you see links between them.
Each group is color coded. The yellow group is usually the easiest to figure out, blue and green fall in the middle, and the purple group is usually the most difficult one. The purple group often involves wordplay.
Select four words you think go together and press Submit. If you make a guess and you’re incorrect, you’ll lose a life. If you’re close to having a correct group, you might see a message telling you that you’re one word away from getting it right, but you’ll still need to figure out which one to swap.
If you make four mistakes, it’s game over. Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen with the help of some hints, and, if you’re really struggling, today’s Connections answers. As with Wordle and other similar games, it’s easy to share results with your friends on social media and group chats.
If you have an NYT All Access or Games subscription, you can access the publication’s Connections archive. This includes every previous game of Connections, so you can go back and play any of those that you have missed.
Aside from the first 60 games or so, you should be able to find my hints for each grid via Google if you need them! Just click here and add the date of the game for which you need clues or the answers to the search query.
What Are Today’s Connections Hints?
Scroll slowly! Just after the hints for each of today’s Connections groups, I’ll reveal what the groups are without immediately telling you which words go into them.
Today’s 16 words are…
- BOAT
- U
- BOWL
- M
- THOU
- CREW
- V
- YOU
- 8
- EWE
- SCOOP
- GLUE
- TUESDAY
- K
- GRAND
- YEW
And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:
- Yellow group — soundalikes
- Green group — various fits
- Blue group — they add up to the same thing
- Purple group — “man” or “computer” would fit in here
What Are Today’s Connections Groups?
Need some extra help?
Be warned: we’re starting to get into spoiler territory.
Today’s Connections groups are…
- Yellow group — homophones
- Green group — necklines
- Blue group — ways to express 1,000
- Purple group — super ____
What Are Today’s Connections Answers?
Spoiler alert! Don’t scroll any further down the page until you’re ready to find out today’s Connections answers.
This is your final warning!
Today’s Connections answers are…
- Yellow group — homophones (EWE, U, YEW, YOU)
- Green group — necklines (BOAT, CREW, SCOOP, V)
- Blue group — ways to express 1,000 (GRAND, K, M, THOU)
- Purple group — super ____ (8, BOWL, GLUE, TUESDAY)
It’s always nice to get a perfect game after a loss. Here’s how I fared:
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟩🟩🟩🟩
“Thanks, I hate it,” was my first thought when I saw this grid. But after a little thought, I was able to zip through the grid pretty quickly.
I for once used the strategy I keep telling myself I should: saying everything out loud. That helped me get the yellows quickly.
I thought I had something with a group of things that mean “thousand” with GRAND, K and M. But I could not see a fourth to go with them.
So I was happy to draw a link between TUESDAY and BOWL in my mind. That led me to the purples.
From there, I realized that THOU should go with what turned out to be the blues. I didn’t figure out the green connection, but I don’t think I would have deduced that. I don’t think I’ve heard of BOAT as a neckline for a T-shirt or sweater.
Let’s jam through a few clarifications. For the blues, K refers to kilo and M is the Roman numeral for 1,000. THOU is just short for “thousand,” while GRAND is often used casually in reference to money i.e. 20 grand is $20,000.
As for the purples, SUPER 8 was a type of film used in cameras and the title of a pretty good sci-fi movie from 2011. SUPER Tuesday, meanwhile, is the largest day for presidential primary elections in a U.S. election cycle.
That’s all there is to it for today’s Connections clues and answers. Be sure to check my blog tomorrow for hints and the solution for Tuesday’s game if you need them.
P.S. I feel obliged to recommend a holiday movie today, but I simply have to go with one that’s a little askew. Better Watch Out is an enjoyably nasty home invasion horror/thriller that’s set around this time of year.
If you’re looking for a holiday watch that has some gnarly kills and a few clever riffs on Home Alone, this might be a movie for you. I’m not including the trailer here, because it’s a little too spoilery, but you can watch Better Watch Out on Peacock in the U.S. and Prime Video in Canada.
Have a great day! Make sure to drink enough water! Call someone you love!
If you’re so inclined, please do follow my blog for more coverage of Connections and other word games and even some video game news, insights and analysis. It helps me out a lot! Also, follow me on Bluesky! It’s fun there.
