"Connections" December 11: Hints and answers for game #549

If you're struggling with Connections this hump day, Newsweek is here to help.

Since its debut in The New York Times in June 2023, the word-based puzzle has quickly built a large following. It challenges players to group words based on subtle links, combining logic with language skills. Today, it ranks as the publication's second-most popular game, just after the all-conquering Wordle.

If you're not familiar with Connections, this article will guide you through the basics of the game. But we warned: spoilers for today's answers are included further down, so be careful when scrolling if you want to avoid them.

How to Play Connections

If you're new to Connections, it won't take long to learn the rules. To start, players are given a table of 16 words, which they must divide into four groups of four based on common characteristics.

Each of the four categories is labeled with a color, which also signifies their difficulty level. Yellow is the easiest category, followed by green, blue and purple. However, the puzzles are rarely straightforward, using homophones and wordplay, among other techniques, to keep players challenged.

Players have up to four chances to guess incorrectly before the game ends. There's no time constraint, so no need to rush things. You can also shuffle the words on the board to help spot connections you might have missed initially.

Wyna Liu, a crossword editor at The New York Times who was asked to develop Connections, told Newsweek about her top tips for playing the game.

"My best piece of advice is to wait as long as you can before guessing," she said.

"You may see the board and have completely identified the category, seeing five words that could belong in that category," she continued. "Don't try to guess the four words in that category because even though you know what the fifth member is, you won't know which of the four it might not be," which would ultimately waste a turn.

Connections #549 Clues for Wednesday, December 11

Newsweek has some hints to help you figure out today's Connections categories.

Yellow: Objects where you have to make a similar motion to be able to use them.

Green: Names for a place of ideal perfection.

Blue: Words that have been created by blending two or more words.

Purple: The last half of each word has similar meanings to each other.

'Connections' #549 Answers for Wednesday, December 11

Yellow Category: THINGS YOU SHAKE

Yellow Words: Hairspray, Magic 8 Ball, Salad Dressing, Snowglobe

Green Category: UTOPIA

Green Words: Paradise, Seventh Heaven, Shangri-La, Xanadu

Blue Category: PROPER NOUNS PORTMANTEAUX

Blue Words: Jazzercise, Paralympics, Pokemon, Wikipedia

Purple Category: ENDING IN SYNONYMS FOR "FRIEND"

Purple Words: Ketchum, Paypal, Primate, Rosebud

Did you guess the answers correctly? If so, congratulations. If not, there will be another opportunity to crack the puzzle tomorrow.

Connections is released at midnight in your local time zone. Newsweek will be back with another round of hints and tips for each new game.

In the meantime, you could try your hand at Wordle, for which Newsweek also provides daily hints.