NEW ‘Connections’ hints and answers for Sunday 22nd December

Are you looking for tips and answers to Saturday connections instead? You can find them here:

ForbesNEW ‘Connections’ hints and answers for Saturday 21st DecemberBy Chris Holt

Hello everyone! Hope you have a great weekend.

I’m a few days into my end of year semi-holiday. It’s not quite a vacation, because as much as I enjoy writing this column every day, it’s technically work. Even so, I have been able to rest a little more than usual. I managed to make a serious dent in my sleep debt the other night with a 15-hour sleep. I really needed that.

Before we get started, I’ve started a discussion group for Connections and this column on Discord. You can chat about each game (and other topics) with me and other people. I’m always interested in finding out how other people approach the game, so join in! It’s funny.

It’s also the best way to give me feedback on the column, especially on the rare(!) occasions when I screw something up.

Today’s NEW Connections advice and answers for Sunday 22 December will come straight up.

How Connections plays

Connections is a free, popular New York Times daily word game. You get a new puzzle at midnight every day. You can play on NEW website or game app.

You are presented with a grid of 16 words. Your task is to arrange them into four groups of four by finding out the connections between them. The groups can be things like clickable items, names of research study participants, or words with a body part in front.

There is only one solution to each puzzle and you have to be careful when it comes to words that can fit into more than one category. You can mix up the words to perhaps help you see connections between them.

Each group is color coded. The yellow group is usually the easiest to figure out, blue and green fall in the middle, and the purple group is usually the hardest. The purple group often involves puns.

Choose four words that you think fit together and press send. If you guess and you’re wrong, you lose a life. If you’re close to having a correct group, you may see a message telling you that you’re one word away from getting it right, but you still need to figure out which one to swap.

If you make four mistakes, it’s game over. Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen with some tips and if you’re really struggling, today’s is Connections answer. As with Wordle and other similar games, it’s easy to share results with your friends on social media and group chat.

If you have one NEW Free access or Play subscription, you can access the publication’s Connections file. This includes all previous games of Connectionsso you can go back and play any of them you missed.

Apart from the first 60 games or so, you should be able to find my tips for each grid via Google if you need them! Just click here and add the date of the game for which you need clues or the answers to the search query.

What’s today’s hookup tip?

Roll slowly! Right after the hints for each of today’s Connections groups, I will reveal what the groups are without immediately telling you what words are included in them.

Today’s 16 words are…

• STATISTICS
• CROWN
• ABBOTT
• ELEMENTARY
• NUN
• KEY
• DOME
• ABBA
• LAUREL
• MONK
• COCONUT
• ROAST
• SKULL
• TUBERS
• KAYAK
• KOJAK

And hints for today Connections groups are:

• Green group — the same both ways
• Blue Group — detective dramas
• Purple group – one half of a humorous whole

What are today’s connection groups?

Do you need extra help?

Be warned: we’re starting to come in spoiler territory.

Today’s Connections groups are…

• Yellow group — slang for head
• Green group — palindromes
• Blue group — police procedures
• Purple group – first in a comedy duo

What are today’s connections answers?

Spoiler alert! Don’t scroll down the page any further until you’re ready to find out about today Connections answer.

This is your last warning!

Today’s Connections the answers are…

• Yellow group — slang for head (COCONUT, CROWN, DOME, SKULL)
• Green group — palindromes (ABBA, KAYAK, NUN, STATS)
• Blue Group — Police Procedurals (BONES, ELEMENTARY, KOJAK, MONK)
• Purple Group — first in a comedy duo (ABBOTT, FRY, KEY, LAUREL)

My short two-game streak came to a screeching halt. Here’s how I managed:

I enjoyed Abbott Elementary reference on the top line. What a great show it is.

I got the greens pretty quickly but then was one away from a group with a guess at CROWN, MONK, BONES and KOJAK. I realized my mistake a moment too late. ELEMENTARY is also a detective show, but CROWN is not (it is the crown, anyway), so I made that trade to get the blues.

I then tried a guess at LAUREL, CROWN, SKULL and DOME as in things that go above. I was one away. My next guess was bad. I figured they were religious emblems(?), but that basically didn’t make sense since I included both LAUREL and DOME (both of which were in a one-off guess) with KEY and ABBOTT. I swapped out LAUREL for SKULL but no luck.

I was pretty bummed not to get this one! I had an inkling early on that there might be something to do with comedy double acts given ABBOTT and LAUREL. The main thing didn’t click at all for me as much as it should have.

The comedy duos referenced are ABBOTT and Costello, FRY and Laurie, KEY and Peele, and LAUREL and Hardy.

That’s all there is to it for today Connections clues and answers. Be sure to check my blog tomorrow for tips and the fix for Monday’s game if you need them.

PS I plan to go to a lot of shows in early 2025. The first of them will be a Sum 41 concert. The band calls it a day, so this will be the only time I ever see them live.

I’m looking forward to it! I liked them a lot back then, and “In Too Deep” is one of them the pop-punk songs from the early 2000s. That guitar solo – and how it came into focus in the video – will forever remain iconic in my mind:

Have a nice day! Call someone you love!

If you are so inclined, go for it follow my blog for more coverage of Connections and other puns and even some video game news, insights and analysis. It helps me a lot! Also follow me further Blue sky! It’s fun there.