Today's Connections Hints & Answers For December 11, 2024 (Puzzle #549)

Today’s Connections puzzle is fairly complicated, as players will need to figure out how to sort out a lot of different nouns that all look disconnected. There are a fair amount of differences and similarities between all of them, and knowing how to put them together is going to be a challenge. It is easy to get stuck on the last two categories in particular, so if you have a hard time figuring them out you should not feel bad about it. There are a lot of intricacies in these puzzles, and today is no exception.

If you want a different kind of challenge, the NYT’s Mini Crossword might just be the right puzzle for you. There are a lot of different challenges with a crossword, but there are slightly different ones when it is in bite-sized form. A larger crossword requires a lot more different connection points, but it also offers more places to fill in words and potentially get hints that way. The smaller crossword will require a little more creative thinking to get the job done.

Today's Connections Category Hints

DECEMBER 11 #549

If you need hints on today’s puzzle, there are likely several reasons. The similarities in these words are just vague enough to make it fairly difficult to put things together. Additionally, some of the words are not necessarily references that everyone would be familiar with, meaning you’d have to look up what they are just to make an attempt at solving the puzzle. However, with a little help, it will be easier for you to figure out what to do today.

• One category is about places that all share an idea in common
• One category is about things that you have to make a similar motion to use
• One category is about words that all share something in common in their inner structure
• One category is about four words that all end in something with a similar meaning to each other

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If you still need help figuring out what these categories are all about, you can look at the names of them in the box below, followed by the full answers for each one.

	UTOPIA
	THINGS YOU SHAKE
	PROPER NOUN PORTMANTEAUX
	ENDING IN SYNONYMS FOR "FRIEND"

Today's Connections Answers

DECEMBER 11 #549

Yellow Answers: Revealed & Explained

This one seems harder than it should be for the easy category today. While you could put it together if you knew what each of the words was in reference to, some of them are not common references anymore. PARADISE and SEVENTH HEAVEN might share enough meaning in common to put them together anyway, but SHANGRI-LA might be a little harder. XANADU is a bit more recent, but still likely quite obscure to a non-theater crowd. Personally, I am more familiar with its use in Star Wars, which has no obvious connection to a utopia in the show.

Green Answers: Revealed & Explained

This is the first one I put together, and while it was easier, I still think it’s fairly difficult. I only got it because of SNOWGLOBE and the MAGIC 8 BALL, as I saw those two and thought that might be the right connection to make. Even then, while I got SALAD DRESSING, I had to look a little harder for HAIRSPRAY. I know you can shake it, but you don’t always shake it like the others must be shaken. Or maybe I just don’t use it often enough to put it together as fast as someone who does.

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Blue Answers: Revealed & Explained

This is where I started to get caught up. The clearest answer, in my opinion, was POKÉMON and WIKIPEDIA with PAYPAL and ROSEBUD, as they were all compound words that made more sense together from my perspective. However, that thinking was not enough to help me solve the puzzle, as it is actually not that at all. Unfortunately, I was just close enough to have the right idea, but far enough away that it made it a lot harder to get right.

Purple Answers: Revealed & Explained

The same reasons that the previous category was difficult are the same reasons why this one is also difficult. A lot is going on with these words, and CHUM is not as easy to spot as the rest, at least in the dialect I am most familiar with. Even so, it is easy to get tripped up on these words, so it is understandable why this category was particularly difficult today and why the words could be mixed up in the previous category as well.

Other Games Like Connections

Check out one of these other puzzles if you are still in a gaming mood today.

Released June 12, 2023

Developer(s) The New York Times Company

Publisher(s) The New York Times Company

ESRB e

Platform(s) Web Browser , Mobile