Today's Connections Hints & Answers For January 11, 2025 (Puzzle #580)

If you are looking for the right hints for today’s Connections puzzle, you are in the right place to get them. Today’s puzzle was a little more difficult for me than the past few, as there were several words that could have gone into multiple categories. This made it harder to separate them out and understand which of the four words was wrong when a “one away” popped up. However, our loss is your gain as we can give you all the hints you need to avoid the same fate.

If you want to try out a different puzzle today, you should try the NYT’s Spelling Bee puzzle. It’s a very cute puzzle because of its overall aesthetic. However, it’s also a fun puzzle to play as it tests your knowledge of the dictionary without asking you to remember every meaning of every word ever. All you have to do is remember the word and spell it right. That can be a challenge at times, but it is fun to try to come up with all the words you can.

Today's Connections Category Hints

JANUARY 11 #580

To get the right answers, you will want to know how to figure out where each word goes. There are a lot of words that mean close to the same thing, and then another set of words that feels very disconnected from all of it. The player will need to know at least a tip or two to get the words right and know where they all go.

• One category is about something that looks very organized
• One category is about something that you do in one place in particular
• One category is about things that take place at the same time but not the same place
• One category is about four words that come before another one in a phrase - that word is a place you generally don’t want to end up

If you still need some tips and tricks, there are plenty of options for you. The first is the names of the categories, followed by the full spoilers for each one.

Today's Connections Answers

JANUARY 11 #580

Yellow Answers: Revealed & Explained

In this category, I was fairly confused by NETWORK. All of the first few words did not necessarily sound like just rows and columns. It sounded like they were all to do with wires and those kinds of ARRAYS. It didn’t help that NETWORK was the word that clued me into the rest of these words to begin with, as I was using that word as the jumping-off point instead of the other way around. TABLE also sounded the least like a NETWORK out of the words left, which didn’t help.

Green Answers: Revealed & Explained

Likewise, because I was set on NETWORK belonging elsewhere, this one was not as easy to get. I also thought of CONVERSE as the shoe, not a verb. In fact, while CIRCULATE and MINGLE were verbs, I didn’t think of either NETWORK or CONVERSE in that way. It might have been that I was tired, but it was something I missed. I’m not sure I would have that of CIRCULATE as being something you do at an office party anyway, but it does make sense in context with the other words.

Blue Answers: Revealed & Explained

This category I had in the bag. I may not be a sports person, but I am an Olympics person. It’s the one time every other year that I care about sports, and I pay attention when it does happen. As soon as I saw four sports that didn’t look at all related but did take place during the same Olympics, I was pretty sure I knew this one. Luckily I was right, but I did have to switch out TENNIS after my first guess. It’s the one that’s just around to trick you in this category.

Purple Answers: Revealed & Explained

Lastly, I didn’t even look at any of these words except for TENNIS as being possibilities elsewhere. These all make perfect sense in context and I’m not mad about it because I never even got to this point. It was, unfortunately, the yellow category that really messed with my head today and that was the most unfortunate part. It’s always easy until it isn’t, particularly in Connections. It’s just a part of playing these puzzles, and that’s life sometimes.

Other Games Like Connections

If you want to play some other puzzles today, there are plenty to choose from in the box below.