Hints and Solutions for Today’s Connections – Dec 2, 2024 (#540)

If you opened today’s Connections puzzle and felt a bit daunted, you’re in good company. I found myself staring blankly at it when it first appeared, unsure of how to even begin solving it. Nevertheless, I took a moment to breathe deeply and reset my mindset, which allowed me to finish the puzzle and keep my winning streak intact. With a few tips I’m about to share, you’ll be able to uphold your streak too and achieve a satisfying victory.

If you haven’t had a chance to try out Wordle, another popular puzzle from the New York Times, it’s worth a shot. Unlike Connections, where you deal with multiple words, in Wordle you focus solely on finding a single word. This approach requires you to concentrate on letter placements instead of juggling several words at once. It’s a different yet equally engaging challenge that can really scratch that puzzle-solving itch.

Hints for Today’s Connections Categories

DECEMBER 02 #540

Tackling this puzzle may feel intimidating at first, but there are strategies you can employ to break it down. Look for distinct words, as you’ll see many that seem both interconnected and isolated at the same time. You might find yourself focusing on words like POLO PLAYER and WHAC-A-MOLE, which stand out and make a good starting point. To keep that momentum going, consider the following hints:

• One category relates to how you communicate with others.
• Another category involves four items that utilize the same tool.
• One category features something you might find on clothing from specific brands.
• The last category consists of four words that precede a specific word in a common phrase, that word being something you can snap.

If those hints aren’t quite enough, I also have the category names that can help you narrow things down.

Answers for Today’s Connections

DECEMBER 02 #540

Yellow Answers: Revealed & Explained

If you need to announce something, these are four words that can help. I didn’t guess this set immediately, largely because I was unsure of the category’s focus. However, by eliminating options through another category’s answers, I was better positioned to group these words together. I had a little trouble spotting BROADCAST, mainly due to the small text on my phone screen.

Green Answers: Revealed & Explained

I was close to getting this category right away, after spending some time looking at XYLOPHONE and WHAC-A-MOLE. Because they were adjacent in the puzzle, it helped me associate them with one another and realize their similarities. It finally clicked, and I added CROQUET to the list. Figuring out CARPENTRY took a bit longer, but I got it in the end.

Blue Answers: Revealed & Explained

This was the first category I solved, as SWOOSH immediately caught my attention as something out of the ordinary. POLO PLAYER also stood out, and noticing the connection between them led me to categorize them as logos. Finding LAUREL was straightforward after that, but figuring out CROCODILE proved to be much trickier. Many words in this puzzle have been used as logos before, and it was tough to pinpoint why that one was harder to guess. I decided to take a shot and, luckily, my first guess turned out to be correct. Another sports-themed category tackled!

Purple Answers: Revealed & Explained

This final category focuses on various forms of clips, including one that isn’t a physical object. I didn’t put much effort into determining how this category or its words connected, other than figuring out if ALLIGATOR belonged with any of the other animals, especially its closest relatives. After concluding it didn’t fit, I paid less attention to it until completing the puzzle, managing to select all of these words simultaneously and reach the victory screen!

Other Puzzles You Might Enjoy

If you’re still in a puzzle-solving mood, consider trying one of these games: