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If you are looking for the Connections answer for Saturday January 11, 2025, read on – I will give you some hints, tips and strategies and finally the solutions for all four categories. Along the way I explain the meaning of the more difficult words and we learn how everything fits together. Warning, there are spoilers below for January 11th, NYT Connections #580! Read on if you want some hints (and then the answer) about today’s Connections game.

If you want an easy way to use our Connections tips every day, Bookmark this page. You can also find our previous clues there if you want to know what you missed in a previous puzzle.

Below I give you some indirect clues to today’s Connections answers. And further down the page I will reveal the themes and the answers. Scroll slowly and pick up exactly the clues you need!

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Hints about the topics in today’s connection puzzle

Here are some spoiler-free notes about the groupings in today’s Connections:

• Yellow Category – Refers to programs such as Excel.

• Green Category – What you might do at an office happy hour.

• Blue Category – Participants hope to win a bronze, silver or gold medal.

• Purple Category – A cloze where a word refers to a large open sports field or a room where someone is being judged by a panel of peers.

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WARNING: Spoilers for today’s Connections puzzle follow!

We are about to reveal some of the answers. Scroll slowly if you don’t want the whole thing to be ruined. (The complete solution can be found a little further down.)

A note on the tricky parts

CONVERSE is not a shoe brand – it is a verb about the act of conversation.

BREAKING refers to a dance style.

KANGURU and TRAMPOLINE are both associated with bouncing, but they don’t go together today.

TABLE does not refer to a piece of furniture; it refers to a flat array of fields containing data.

What categories are there in today’s Connections?

• Yellow: DISPLAY OF ROWS AND COLUMNS

• Green: THINGS TO DO AT A WORK EVENT

• Blue: OLYMPIC EVENTS SINCE 2000

• Purple: ___ COURT

DOUBLE WARNING: THE SOLUTION IS BELOW

Are you ready to learn the answers to today’s connection puzzle? I reveal them all below.

What are the yellow words in today’s Connections?

The yellow grouping is considered the simplest. The topic of today’s yellow group is “ROW AND COLUMN DISPLAY” and the words are: ARRAY, GRID, MATRIX, TABLE.

What are the green words in today’s Connections?

The green grouping is said to be the second easiest. The theme of today’s green category is THINGS TO DO AT A WORK EVENT and the words are: CIRCULATE, CONVERSATE, MINGLING, NETWORK.

What are the blue words in today’s Connections?

The blue grouping is the second hardest. The theme of today’s blue category is OLYMPIC EVENTS SINCE 2000 and the words are: BREAKING, SURFING, TAEKWONDO, TRAMPOLINE.

What are the purple words in today’s Connections?

The purple grouping is considered the most difficult. The theme for today’s purple category is ___ COURT and the words are: FOOD, KANGAROO, SUPREME, TENNIS.

How I solved today’s connections

CONVERSE and SUPREME could be fashion brands, but CONVERSE could also be a verb meaning “to make conversation.” Ah, that would fit NETWORK and MINGLE, which have similar meanings. Maybe CIRCULATE too? 🟩

KANGURU and TRAMPOLINE are both associated with bouncing, but I don’t think there is anything else.

ARRAY, MATRIX, GRID and TABLE can all go together as words that refer to large data layouts. 🟨

Oh, I got it: SURFING, BREAKING, TRAMPOLINE and TAEKWONDO are all Olympic disciplines. (Although BREAKING probably had its first and last appearance in Paris.) 🟦

That leaves SUPREME, KANGAROO, TENNIS and FOOD. I have no idea what connects these words. I thought they might be brand names, but that doesn’t seem to fit. Let’s see. 🟪 Oh, they all come with “judgment.” I had to google “KANGAROO court” and apparently it is a term that refers to a poorly run courtroom with a mock judge.

Connections
Puzzle #580
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How to play Connections

I have a full one Instructions for playing Connectionsbut here’s a refresher on the rules:

First, find the Connections game on either the New York Times website or the Games app (formerly the Crossword app). You will see a game board with 16 tiles, each with a word or phrase. Your job is to select a group of four tiles that have something in common. Often these are all the same type of things (e.g. “RAIN”, “GROUP”, “HAIL” and “SNOW” are all types of wet weather), but sometimes there is a play on words (e.g. B. “BUCKET”, “GUEST”, “TOP TEN” and “WISH” are all types of rainy weather). from Lists: bucket list, guest list, etc.).

Select four items and click the Send button. If you guessed correctly, the category and color will be displayed. (Yellow is the easiest, followed by green, then blue, then purple.) If your guess was wrong, you have the opportunity to try again.

You win if you correctly identified all four groups. However, if you make four mistakes before finishing, the game ends and the answers are revealed.

This is how you gain contacts

The most important thing you need to know about attracting connections is that groupings are tricky. Expect overlapping groups. For example, one puzzle appeared to include six breakfast foods: BACON, EGG, PANCAKE, OMELET, WAFFLE, and cereal. But BACON was part of a group of painters along with CLOSE, MUNCH and WHISTLER, and EGG was part of a group of things that come in by the dozen (along with JUROR, ROSE and MONTH). So don’t click submit until you confirm your group of four exists only these four things.

If you get stuck, another strategy is to look at the words that seem to work NO connection to the others. If all that comes to mind when you see WHISTLER is the painting nicknamed “Whistler’s Mother,” then you might be on the right track. Once I solved that, I googled whether there was a painter named Close, because Close didn’t fit any of the obvious themes either.

Of course, another way to win when you’re stuck is to read a few helpful tips – which is why we pass along these hints every day. Check back tomorrow to read the next puzzle!