NEW Connections Today — My Tips and Answers for Friday, December 27 (Game #565)

On December 27, 2024By Littum

Good morning! Let’s play Connections, the NYT’s clever word game that challenges you to group answers into different categories. It can be difficult, so read on if you need clues.

What are you going to do when you’re done? Why, play some more puns of course. I also have daily Strands Hints and Answers and Quordle Hints and Answers articles if you need help with those too, while Marc’s Wordle Today page covers the original viral pun.

SPOILER ALERT: Today’s NYT Connections information is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.

NEW Connections today (game #565) – word of the day

NEW Connections tip for game 565 on a purple background

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today’s NEW Connections word is…

LOSS
UNICORN
IRON
BACON
PRESSING
PHOENIX
CAR
BUGLER
BRIDGES
AFRICA
TOAST
WASHINGTON
GREEN
HITS
HASH
CLICK

NEW Connections today (game #565) – tip #1 – group tip

What are some clues for today’s NYT Connections groups?

YELLOW: Breakfast staples
GREEN: On/Off
BLUE: Beep beep
PURPLE: And the prize goes to…

Need more clues?

We’re firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today’s NYT Connections puzzles…

NEW Connections today (game #565) – tip #2 – group answer

What are the answers for today’s NYT Connections groups?

YELLOW: BREAKFAST PAGES
GREEN: PUSHES LIKE A BUTTON
BLUE: THEY HAVE A HORN
PURPLE: OSCAR-WINNING ACTORS

Okay, the answers are below, so DON’T SCROLL IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NEW Connections today (game #565) – the answers

NYT Connections answers for game 565 on a purple background

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today’s Connections, game #565, are…

YELLOW: BREAKFAST PAGES BACON, GRINS, HASH, TOAST
GREEN: PUSHES LIKE A BUTTON CLICK, HIT, PUSH, TAP
BLUE: THEY HAVE A HORN AFRICA, BUGLER, CAR, UNICORN
PURPLE: OSCAR-WINNING ACTORS BRIDGES, IRONS, PHOENIX, WASHINGTON

My rating: Moderate
My score: 1 error

My first thought when I saw PHOENIX and IRONS in the grid was the actors River and Jeremy. I spent ages trying to think of any movies they were in together (I later discovered there aren’t any, but they were both in the Shakespearean TV drama The hollow crown). I convinced myself that they must be connected to Denzil WASHINGTON and Kevin BACON and got the dreaded “one off”.

After connecting the breakfast items I found the right group for BACON and the rest clicked into place.

The blue group completely threw me. While it is true that THEY HAVE A HORN, the type that AFRICA has is very different from what you would find in a CAR. Such is the accidental beauty of Connections.

Yesterday’s NEW Connections Answer (Thursday, December 26, Game #564)

YELLOW: AROUND ABOUT, AROUND, AS, ROUGH
GREEN: TREES ELDER, PALM, PINE, FIR
BLUE: BIG AS AMOUNT BEAUTIFUL, HEALTHY, RESPECTABLE, TIDY
PURPLE: US STATE ABBREVIATIONS, PER AP STYLE GUIDE ALA, ARK, MISS, ORE

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games created by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four elements that share something in common, and each group has a different degree of difficulty: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough, and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you technically don’t need to solve the last one, as you’ll be able to answer it by a process of elimination. Also, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It’s a bit more involved than something like Wordle, though, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to let you beat yourself up with tricks. For example, watch out for homophones and other puns that can hide the answers.

It can be played for free via NYT Games website on desktop or mobile.