Looking for Saturday’s Connections hints and answers instead? You can find them here:
Hey, everyone! Hope you’re having a wonderful Sunday.
I used to think I was reasonably well tapped into what’s going on in the world of TV and film, but that has very much fallen by the wayside over the last year and change. I watched very few new films last year and my TV diet definitely shrank too (I still don’t really know what Baby Reindeer is about). There are just too many games to play!
Still, I’m looking forward to tonight’s Golden Globes. It’s always a fun, slightly messy show. I already know that I have to watch the likes of Anora and Inside Out 2, but one of the most valuable things about the Globes is that the voters often try to anoint some great new shows before the Emmys have had a chance to do so. The Globes, for instance, is how Jane the Virgin first popped up on my pop culture radar, and that’s a show I now love very, very much (Rogelio De La Vega is one of my all-time favorite characters).
I’m hoping to find some other neat things to add to my watchlist from tonight’s ceremony. And, of course, watch some fun drunken acceptance speeches.
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 Sunday, January 5, 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…
- CHECK
- STOP
- GROSS
- MAKE
- HOME
- YIELD
- VOLUME
- SLOW
- SNARE
- QUIET
- KETTLE
- NET
- MUTE
- EAR
- SLEEPY
- OIL
- CALM
And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:
- Yellow group — like a sparsely inhabited settlement
- Green group — bring home the bacon
- Blue group — media buttons
- Purple group — keep the beat
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 — hardly bustling
- Green group — earn
- Blue group — remote control functions
- Purple group — words before “drum”
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 — hardly bustling (CALM, QUIET, SLEEPY, SLOW)
- Green group — earn (GROSS, MAKE, NET, YIELD)
- Blue group — remote control functions (HOME, MUTE, STOP, VOLUME)
- Purple group — words before “drum” (EAR, KETTLE, OIL, SNARE)
I’m back to winning ways with a perfect game. Always nice to do that after losing a decent streak. Here’s how I fared:
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟩🟩🟩🟩
I really tried to get a reverse rainbow on this one, but it didn’t quite happen. I clocked the blues pretty quickly thanks to VOLUME and the yellows were easy enough.
Before submitting those, I tried to figure out all of the groups first. However, I couldn’t see what would go with EAR, KETTLE and OIL at first as there were five viable options for the greens. I was a little annoyed after clearing the blues and yellows, as it then became immediately apparent that “drum” linked the purples and that SNARE was the fourth word I was looking for.
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 Monday’s game if you need them.
P.S. Here’s a Sunday mantra for you and a great song to boot. “Take It Easy” by Eagles is my recommendation for today:
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.
