NYT Connections Today – My Hints and Answers for Thursday, December 12 (Game #550)
Good morning! Let’s play Connections, the NYT’s clever word game that challenges you to group answers into different categories. It can be tricky, so read on if you need pointers.
What should you do when you’re done? Of course, play some word games. I also have daily Strands Hints and Answers and Quordle Hints and Answers articles if you need help with those too, while Marc’s Wordle Today page covers the original viral word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about today’s NYT Connections is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.
NYT Connections Today (Game #550) – Today’s Words
Today’s words from NYT Connections are…
- See image for directions! But if you want a description…
- Ice cream
- Bed
- Saw
- T-shirt
- Music notes
- Acceleration
- Some kind of rodents
- Triangle
- Row
- Nuts
- Hot drink in a cup
- Multiple letter G’s
- Mouth
- Golf tee
- Crest
- Building with dollar sign
NYT Connections Today (Game #550) – Hint #1 – Group Hints
What are some pointers for current NYT Connections groups?
- Yellow: The ‘Mr’ of the A-team
- Vegetable: Not all of them are for eating
- Blue: How rude!
- Purple: Elements of the watercourse
Need more clues?
We’re firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four themed answers are for today’s NYT Connections puzzles…
NYT Connections Today (Game #550) – Hint #2 – Group Answers
What are the answers for today’s NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: THINGS THAT SOUND LIKE “T”
- GREEN: OBJECTS WITH TEETH
- BLUE: mild oaths
- PURPLE: PARTS OF A RIVER
Okay, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections Today (Game #550) – The Answers
The answers to today’s Connections game #550 are…
- YELLOW: THINGS THAT SOUND LIKE “T” TEA, TEE (WAVE), TEE (SHIRT), TI (MUSIC NOTE)
- GREEN: OBJECTS WITH TEETH COMB, GEAR, SAW, ZIPPER
- BLUE: mild oaths FUDGE, GEEZ, NUTS, RATS
- PURPLE: PARTS OF A RIVER COUCH, BED, DELTA, MOUTH
- My rating: Impossible
- My score: Failure
Oh come on, NYT! Serious? This is just too hard to even remotely consider fun. Can someone solve this today? Am I just stupid? Icons are fine as a concept, and yes, it’s a welcome change from the normal Connections routine, shaking things up a bit – but if you’re going to do this, at least make it a little easier!
Or maybe I just got unlucky because I was on the right track with some of today’s groups. There were just so many options that could have worked that I was left floundering in the dark.
For example, I immediately noticed that SAW, ZIPPER, GEAR, and COMB were all OBJECTS WITH TEETH, but so was a MOUTH, so I added that twice and lost a few guesses there. Ditto mild oaths; I had GEEZ (Gs), RATS and NUTS, but thought the fourth was D’OH as in Homer Simpson, based on the picture of a score with the word DO written on it. The problem was that the arrow pointed to a different note, and I don’t read music, so I never realized this was actually a TI and instead went with another group; the real final answer was FUDGE.
So basically yeah, let’s talk about some of these photos because how was anyone supposed to know that that bit at the top of the ice cream was FUDGE? It could be anything! It could be chocolate or strawberry sauce, it’s not like this is a high resolution photo. And as for DELTA… I mean, that’s a triangle.
I’m never playing this game again (until tomorrow).
Yesterday’s NYT Connections answers (Wednesday, December 11, game #549)
- YELLOW: UTOPIA PARADISE, SEVENTH HEAVEN, SHANGRI-LA, XANADU
- GREEN: THINGS YOU SHAKE HAIR SPRAY, MAGIC 8 BALL, SALAD DRESSING, SNOW GLOBE
- BLUE: OWNERSHIP PORTMANTEAUX JAZZERCISE, PARALYMPICS, POKÉMON, WIKIPEDIA
- PURPLE: ENDS IN SYNONYMS FOR “FRIEND” KETCHUM, PAYPAL, PRIMATE, ROSEBUD
What is NYT Connections?
NYT Connections is one of the New York Times’ increasingly popular word games. It challenges you to find groups of four items that have something in common, and each group has a different level of difficulty: green is easy, yellow is a little harder, blue is often quite tough, and purple is usually very difficult.
On the plus side, you technically don’t have to solve the last question because you can answer it by a process of elimination. Plus, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you some breathing room.
It’s a bit more complicated than something like Wordle, though, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For example, beware of homophones and other word games that can obscure the answers.
It is playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.