Today's Connections Hints & Answers For December 15, 2024 (Puzzle #553)

If you feel like you are flailing to finish today’s Connections puzzle, you might want to check out a few hints and tips. This one is a little easier in my opinion than some of the other recent ones, but there are still some tricky bits and places where it would be easy to get stuck. To help you solve it, here are all the tips and tricks you need to breeze through it without getting into a trap.

The NYT Spelling Bee puzzle is a fun option for those who want to try something similar but with a different style. It is a puzzle where you must spell the words out yourself. There are usually around 7-10 different words that you can find and make out of the letters given to you by the puzzle. If you can figure every word out, you will have a much higher score and will be able to boast about it to your puzzling friends.

Today's Connections Category Hints

DECEMBER 15 #553

If you need some hints for today’s puzzle, you can get everything you need here. This puzzle has some interesting word combinations and some words that are the correct answer but may not look like it at first. As usual, the purple category is one that is likely to make you scratch your head quite a bit, and that is just as true today as it is any other day.

• One category is about something you use to make something else better than it was before
• One category is about words used to describe not doing well at something
• One category is about how you might look at a book when you are checking it out at the store
• One category is about names that are missing a crucial component

Related

Wordle History: Archive Of All Past Words Used

Wordle is a simple daily word game that has taken the internet by storm. With only 6 chances to get the right answer, players may need a little help.

If you still need some help finishing up today’s puzzle, you can do that through the use of the category names in the box below. Or you can skip right to the answers if you want.

	SPICES
	PERFORM POORLY
	SKIM THROUGH, AS PAGES
	POP SINGERS MINUS "S"

Today's Connections Answers

DECEMBER 15 #553

Yellow Answers: Revealed & Explained

This category looks like it should be obvious, and for the most part, it was. However, MACE could be a spice or a weapon like a FLAIL. There is also SPEAR and TANK to contend with, all of which could be weapons. I am also not as familiar with the use of MACE as a spice, which might have made this a little harder for me. MAR is also something that sounds like it could be a spice, although I don’t think it actually is. Hopefully, you come across this one before you notice all of the potential weapons.

Green Answers: Revealed & Explained

If something is underperforming, then it is a FLOP. While this is mostly true in the world of entertainment, this can be true anywhere. I think the hard word for me in this category was actually TANK, simply because I had a harder time disassociating that word from other meanings. FLOUNDER could also be a fish, but given that there were not any other fish words floating around it made more sense. Hopefully, you can avoid the mistakes I made with this one.

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12 Letter Boxed Strategies To Win Quickly

The Letter Boxed game for the New York Times mobile app asks you to connect letters to form words while using various strategies to win quickly.

Blue Answers: Revealed & Explained

This one was my favorite category today, partially due to my eternal love of going to bookstores to FLIP through books I can’t afford. I also like the word LEAF a lot, since often a book page is referred to as a leaf as well. THUMB is my least favorite, it implies you lick your thumb before going through the pages and I just don’t like that image. RIFFLE, on the other hand, is just a very fun word to write, say, and think about. Either way, this category was a great one today.

Purple Answers: Revealed & Explained

This last one was the hardest for me, and potentially even for people who are much more into pop music than I am. Unless you see them all together and think about it with the “S”, then you won’t necessarily get them. It is a hard category to get right, as the purple category often is, and it is easiest to get when you have finished the rest. With a little luck, however, I think you could get this one without coming to it last.

Other Games Like Connections

If you still need to get that puzzling fix, you can get it by checking out one of the puzzles below.

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