Today’s Connections Answer: Jan. 9 hints

Trying to find the connections in a game of Connections might be tricky depending on how much the categories of a certain day differ from our vocabulary. If you need a nod in the right direction to figure out the answers, you have come to the right place.

The New York Times launched Connections in mid-2023, and the game has quickly gained popularity as a daily activity. Each day, the game presents sixteen different words in a 4×4 grid. Your goal is to find the eponymous connections between them. They are split into four categories, but you don’t know which categories these are when you start playing; you must look at all the words and try to deduce yourself.

To guess, simply select the four words you think are grouped together and click the Submit button. Doing so, you get feedback from the game on whether it was a correct guess or it cost you a “life.” You have a maximum of three mistakes to make each day, and making a fourth mistake means you lose.

With a correct guess, the selected words are removed from the “pool” and grouped together to reveal the name of their category. The four categories are color-coded in yellow, green, blue, and purple, where yellow is traditionally the most straightforward and purple is the trickiest.

Keep reading to find a few hints, the categories, and the answers for today’s Connections. Each of them is split in a different section, so as to not spoil the answers unintentionally.

Hints for today’s Connections (Jan. 9)

A few hints for today’s categories of Connections (#578) are:

• 🟨 Yellow group: combination of two or more people together with a common purpose or feature
• 🟩 Green group: traditional cities of a certain sport played on ice
• 🟦 Blue group: types of a certain feline
• 🟪 Purple group: words that can make up expressions related to a certain sport

We don’t want to make it too simple or obvious at first for those who only need a nod in the right direction. But if those still don’t ring a bell, you might need the actual names of each category.

That is where the next section comes in. Keep reading to learn more.

Today’s Connections categories (Jan. 9)

The categories that connect today’s words in Connections (#578) are:

• 🟨 Yellow group: team
• 🟩 Green group: original six NHL teams
• 🟦 Blue group: panthers
• 🟪 Purple group: golf ___

Knowing the categories might give away most or all the answers, but we know that sometimes it can still be tricky to figure out which ones go where.

If you’re still unsure and don’t have any more room for mistakes, check out the actual answers for each category below.

Today’s Connections answers (Jan. 9)

The answers to today’s Connections puzzle (#578) are:

• 🟨 Team: CREW, GROUP, SIDE, SQUAD
• 🟩 Original six NHL teams: BOSTON, MONTREAL, NEW YORK, TORONTO
• 🟦 Panthers: CAROLINA, FLORIDA, NORTHERN IOWA, PITTSBURGH
• 🟪 Golf ___: CART, CLAP, CLUB, COURSE

Past Connections answers

Jan. 8 (#577)

• 🟨 Section: BRANCH, DIVISION, LIMB, WING
• 🟩 Accessories for playing an instrument: BOW, DRUMSTICK, MALLET, PICK
• 🟦 Distinctive features of an elephant: EAR, MEMORY, TRUNK, TUSK
• 🟪 Words misspelled in nu metal band names: BISCUIT, CORN, LINCOLN, STAINED

Jan. 7 (#576)

• 🟨 Vocal music: A CAPPELLA, BARBERSHOP, DOO-WOP, MADRIGAL
• 🟩 A handful of: A FEW, CERTAIN, SOME, VARIOUS
• 🟦 Book subtitles: A LIFE, A NOVEL, ESSAYS, PART ONE
• 🟪 ___ is ___ is ___: A DEAL, A ROSE, ENOUGH, LOVE

Jan. 6 (#575)

• 🟨 Breathe hard: GASP, HEAVE, PANT, PUFF
• 🟩 Catchall: BLANKET, BROAD, GENERAL, UMBRELLA
• 🟦 Metaphors for easy things: ABC, BREEZE, PICNIC, PIE
• 🟪 Synonyms for rear end minus last letter: ARS, BOOT, BUT, RUM

Jan. 5 (#574)

• 🟨 Hardly bustling: CALM, QUIET, SLEEPY, SLOW
• 🟩 Earn: GROSS, MAKE, NET, YIELD
• 🟦 Remote control functions: HOME, MUTE, STOP, VOLUME
• 🟪 Words before “drum”: EAR, KETTLE, OIL, SNARE

Jan. 4 (#573)

• 🟨 Crush into a compact shape: BALL, CRUMPLE, SCRUNCH, WAD
• 🟩 Fasteners: BUCKLE, CLIP, HOOK, SNAP
• 🟦 Mark as completed: CHECK, CROSS, STRIKE, TICK
• 🟪 Depicted in Dali’s “The Persistence of Memory”: ANT, BRANCH, CLOCK, MELTING

Jan. 3 (#572)

• 🟨 Parts of a foot: ARCH, BALL, HEEL, SOLE
• 🟩 One dollar: BUCK, CLAM, SINGLE, SMACKER
• 🟦 Kinds of mushrooms: BUTTON, MOREL, OYSTER, TRUMPET
• 🟪 Pot ___: BELLY, HOLE, LUCK, STICKER

Jan. 2 (#571)

• 🟨 Perceive: CATCH, CLOCK, NOTICE, REGISTER
• 🟩 Cadence: BEAT, METER, RHYTHM, TIME
• 🟦 One in a group of twelve: DONUT, INCH, JUROR, MONTH
• 🟪 Dog ___: DAYS, PADDLE, TAG, TIRED

Jan. 1 (#570)

• 🟨 Slimy animals: EARTHWORM, EEL, SALAMANDER, SLUG
• 🟩 Things that luminesce: AURORA, FIREFLY, GLOWSTICK, RADIUM
• 🟦 Dutch symbols: CANAL, CLOG, TULIP, WINDMILL
• 🟪 Ending with synonyms for “plunge”: GATECRASH, RAINDROP, SKYDIVE, WATERFALL