Looking for Saturday’s Connections hints and answers instead? You can find them here:
Hey, everyone! Hope you’re having a terrific weekend.
I’m a few days in to my end-of-year semi-vacation. It’s not a full vacation, because as much as I enjoy writing this column every day, it’s technically work. Still, I’ve been able to rest a bit more than usual. I managed to make a serious dent in my sleep debt the other night with a 15-hour slumber. I really needed that.
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, December 22, 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…
- STATS
- CROWN
- ABBOTT
- ELEMENTARY
- NUN
- KEY
- DOME
- ABBA
- LAUREL
- MONK
- COCONUT
- FRY
- SKULL
- BONES
- KAYAK
- KOJAK
And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:
- Green group — the same both ways
- Blue group — detective dramas
- Purple group — one half of a humorous whole
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 — slang for head
- Green group — palindromes
- Blue group — police procedurals
- Purple group — first in a comedy duo
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 — slang for head (COCONUT, CROWN, DOME, SKULL)
- Green group — palindromes (ABBA, KAYAK, NUN, STATS)
- Blue group — police procedurals (BONES, ELEMENTARY, KOJAK, MONK)
- Purple group — first in a comedy duo (ABBOTT, FRY, KEY, LAUREL)
My short two-game streak came crashing to a halt. Here’s how I fared:
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟨🟦🟦🟦
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟨🟨🟪🟨
🟪🟪🟨🟪
🟪🟪🟨🟨
I did enjoy the Abbott Elementary reference on the top line. What a good show that is.
I got the greens pretty quickly, but was then one away from a group with a guess of CROWN, MONK, BONES and KOJAK. I realized my mistake a moment too late. ELEMENTARY is also a detective show but CROWN isn’t (it’s The Crown, anyway), so I made that swap to get the blues.
I then tried a guess of LAUREL, CROWN, SKULL and DOME as in things that go on top. I was one away. My next guess was a bad one. I figured they were religious emblems(?), but it fundamentally didn’t make sense as I included both LAUREL and DOME (both of which were in a one-away guess) with KEY and ABBOTT. I swapped out LAUREL for SKULL but to no avail.
I was pretty annoyed not to get this one! I had an inkling early on that there might be something to do with comedy double acts given ABBOTT and LAUREL. The head thing didn’t really click for me at all, as much as it should have.
The comedy duos referenced are ABBOTT and Costello, FRY and Laurie, KEY and Peele and LAUREL and Hardy.
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. I’m planning to go to a bunch of shows in early 2025. The first of those will be a Sum 41 gig. The band are calling it a day, so this will be the only time that I ever see them live.
I’m looking forward to it! I liked them a lot back in the day, and “In Too Deep” is one of the pop-punk songs of the early 2000s. That guitar solo — and how it’s given the spotlight in the video — will forever remain iconic in my mind:
Have a great day! 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.
