Connections today: Quick menu
Looking for today’s Connections answers? The Connections answers on January 5 for puzzle #208 reverse the trend of getting tougher as the week went on, with the Connections Companion rating this puzzle’s difficulty at 2.4 out of 5.
Every day, we update this article with Connections hints and tips to help you find all 4 of today’s answers. And if the hints aren’t enough, you’ll find all 4 answers below, with the category titles and the correlating words. Plus, we’re including a reflection on yesterday’s puzzle, #207, in case you’re reading this in a different time zone.
Spoilers lie ahead for Connections #208. Only read on if you want to know today’s Connections answers.
Today’s Connections answer — hints to help you solve it
Unlike our guide to today’s Wordle answer, where we recommend the best Wordle start words as your strategy, solving Connections relies on identifying connecting categories among 16 words. Each category’s difficulty level is represented by a color; yellow is the easiest grouping, and purple is the most challenging. Once you’ve made 4 mistakes in your guesses, the answers will be revealed, so hints can be helpful.
If you need hints to solve the groupings, then here are the themes of each, based on the order of difficulty:
- 🟨 Yellow: A bit of needle
- 🟩 Green: Edmund Hillary’s target
- 🟦 Blue: Market stall lingo
- 🟪 Purple: Marks the spot
These hints should get you at least some of the way towards finding today’s Connections answers. If not, then you can read on for bigger clues; or, if you just want to know the answer, then scroll down further.
Alright then, here’s a larger hint: Today’s Connections might draw you into thinking about human ages and generations, but don’t ‘Kid’ yourself into thinking it’ll be that easy. Instead, consider the gentle taunts between siblings for one of the categories, and what might be considered “X-rated” for another.
Today’s Connections answers
So, what are today’s Connections answers for game #208?
Drumroll, please…
- 🟨 Playfully bother: Josh, Kid, Rib, Tease
- 🟩 Apex: Height, Max, Peak, Top
- 🟦 Words for specific quantities: Dozen, Gross, Pair, Score
- 🟪 What “X” might mean: Adult, Kiss, Ten, Times
While this week’s Connections have so far proven especially tricky for this particular player, it was a refreshing change today when everything seemed to fall into place rather neatly. Despite being initially drawn into thinking Kid simply must be tied to Adult in some way, in the absence of terms like baby or elderly, I resorted to thinking again without submitting any mistakes.
Having an impish younger sibling finally provided some use after all these years when I spotted the words Josh and Tease, which I figured matched with the aforementioned Kid. Rib completed the yellow category to get me underway nicely.
Unable to spot any obvious patterns for Adult, I moved on to what appeared to be numerical-related words, combining Dozen, Pair, Score and Ten. No dice on this occasion, but only one away. I figured Ten was the offending entrant, especially as some distant memory in the far reaches of my brain suggested that Gross might work here. Referring to a square dozen (yes, I have since Googled that), it did indeed fit the other Words for specific quantities. Blue complete.
On a roll now, I had visions of Hillary and Tenzing ascending Everest as I put Height, Max, Peak, and Top together to complete the Apex category, leaving me with the simple task of submitting the remaining four: Adult, Kiss, Ten, Times. Today, I certainly felt like I had the X factor.
Yesterday’s Connections answers
Reading this in a later time zone? Here are the Connections answers for game #207, which had a difficulty rating of 3.4 out of 5, according to the Connections Companion.
Match, Strike, Lit, Fire. As I put these four together in split seconds I was so confident the only question remaining for me was what color category it would be. Alas, this turned out to be a Devilish trap that will surely burn more fingers than mine alone.
Duly chastened, I left those four alone and moved on to Box, Message, Card, and Wrapping, figuring the four connected through a theme of gift-giving. My reasoning was spot on, my execution less so. Another life lost, but at least this one came with the welcome warning that I was only one away. By swapping Message for Bow, I was finally underway with the yellow category, but nervily so, with only two mistakes remaining.
- 🟨 Gift-giving accessories: Bow, Box, Card, Wrapping
- 🟩 Dating app actions: Block, Match, Message, Swipe
- 🟦 Cool, in slang: Fire, Lit, Sick, Tight
- 🟪 Lucky ____: Break, Charm, Duck, Strike
I opted to shuffle the deck at this point, a tactic that is surprisingly effective and proved so on this occasion when the reshuffle placed Sick and Tight in close proximity, prompting me to consider slang words, along with the aforementioned Fire and Lit, that my kids yell at the screen when playing video games. Blue category complete!
My mind wandered towards sports like surfing (Break), cricket (Duck) and bowling (Strike), before the word Charm prompted a reappraisal of the above, tying all neatly together with more than a little fortune.
Block, Match, Message, and Swipe remained, and as I clicked submit relieved that I’d survived the initial scare today, I figured my other half may also be relieved to learn that the green category, Dating app actions, was the toughest for me to find!
Connections tips — how to win Connections
Connections relies more on your deductive skills and general knowledge, and you also don’t get to know which word (or words) don’t belong in your guessed groupings. Only if you’ve included one incorrect word, will the game tell you so.
To win Connections, you’ll want to take your time looking at all 16 words before making your first guess. Do any words have more than pronunciation? Do any of the words mean more than one thing? Are any of the words part of larger phrases?
Often times, the answer that jumps out at your first will intentionally mislead you. That’s why identifying any possible 5-word categories is a good strategy to start. Bookmark them and come back to them after you’ve solved another category or two, and it should help you figure out which of the 5 words belongs in a different category.
Most Connections categories aren’t incredibly obvious. It’s common for the editor to use phrases, puns and other tricky topics that will require you to think. If you’re stuck on the categories, cycle through each word in the grid and brainstorm possible categories that word fits into, even if you don’t see other related words in the puzzle.
What is NYT Connections?
Connections is a category matching game, launched as a beta experience on June 12, 2023. It then joined the NYT Games app (iOS, Android) officially on August 28, 2023. This app is how people can play the daily New York Times Crossword and ultra-viral game Wordle; however, you need a paid subscription for crossword access, while Wordle and Connections are free to play.
In Connections, you’re presented with 16 words and need to group them into 4, 4-word categories. There are often words intended to mislead you, or seemingly 5-word categories. Your goal is to group the words properly without exceeding 4 guesses. If you can’t solve it within 4 guesses, you’ve failed, and the answers will be revealed.
What time does the Connections puzzle come out?
The NYT Connections puzzle comes out daily. The game is refreshed at your device’s midnight local time.
Where to play Connections
You can play Connections on the New York Times Game App, available for iOS/iPadOS and Android. If you’re on a computer or your device’s browser, you can access NYT Connections online here.