Looking for Saturday’s Connections tips and answers instead? You can find them here:

ForbesNYT “Connections” tips and answers for Saturday, January 11thFrom Kris Holt

Hey, gang! I hope you have a great weekend.

I really want and need to get in better shape. To help me with this, a friend suggested I try an under-desk elliptical machine. He said he uses it regularly and has lost several pounds in just a few weeks.

For me, this would be part of a more comprehensive fitness program. Since I sit at my desk for more than seven hours a day anyway, this could be a way to stay active and burn some calories while working. Now I just need to do a little research to find the best desk elliptical trainer (if you have any recommendations, let me know!).

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

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

Today NYT Connections Hints and answers for Sunday, January 12th will follow soon.

How to play connections

Connections is a free, popular one New York Times daily pun. You will receive a new puzzle every day at midnight. You can play on that NYT Website or gaming app.

You will be presented with a grid of 16 words. Your task is to divide them into four groups of four by figuring out the connections between them. The groups can be items you can click on, names of research participants, or words preceded by a body part.

Each puzzle has only one solution, and you have to be careful when it comes to words that could fit into more than one category. You can mix up the words to perhaps better see the connections between them.

Each group is color coded. The yellow group is usually the easiest to understand, blue and green are in the middle, and the purple group is usually the most difficult. The purple group often contains puns.

Select four words that you think go together and click Send. If you guess and are wrong, you lose a life. When you’re close to finding the right group, you may see a message saying you’re one word away from the right group, but you still need to figure out which word to swap.

If you make four mistakes, the game is over. Let’s make sure that this doesn’t happen with the help of some tips, and if you really find it difficult, even with today’s ones Connections Answer. Like with Wordle and other similar games, it’s easy to share results with your friends on social media and group chats.

If you have one NYT You can access the publications with the All Access or Games subscription Connections Archive. This includes every previous game from Connectionsso you can go back and play any songs you missed.

Aside from the first 60 or so games, you should be able to find my clues for each grid via Google if you need to! Simply click here and enter the date of the game for which you need hints or answers to the search query.

What are today’s connection notes?

Scroll slowly! Right after the clues for each of today’s Connections Groups, I will reveal what the groups are without immediately telling you what words appear in them.

Today’s 16 words are…

• Comets
• INVENTION
• COIN TOSS
• DEFENDER
• COURT
• ASTEROIDS
• FAIRY TALE
• DRESS COAT
• FICTION
• ROMANCE
• SONIC THE HEDGEHOG
• CENTIPEDE
• CHARM
• FANTASY
• OUTBREAK
• TRACK

And the clues for today Connections Groups are:

• Green group – try to win over a crush
• Blue Group – common arcade sights in the 70s and 80s
• Purple group – perhaps connected by lower body appendages

What are today’s sorority groups?

Do you need additional help?

Be warned: We’re starting to get into this Spoiler territory.

Today Connections Groups are…

• Yellow Group – Fabrication
• Green group – woo
• Blue Group – classic Atari games
• Purple Group – Things with tails

What are today’s connection solutions?

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

This is your final warning!

Today Connections Answers are…

• Yellow Group – Invention (FAIRY TALE, FANTASY, Fiction, Invention)
• Green Group – woo (CHARM, COURT, PERSECUTION, ROMANCE)
• Blue Group – classic Atari games (ASTEROIDS, BREAKOUT, CENTIPEDE, DEFENDER)
• Purple Group – Things with Tails (COIN TOSS, COMETS, DRESS COAT, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG)

I can’t believe I didn’t get this one. After seven wins, my streak is over. This is what happened to me:

🟪🟪🟦🟪

🟩🟩🟩🟩

🟨🟨🟨🟨

🟦🟪🟦🟦

🟦🟦🟪🟦

🟦🟦🟪🟦

I tried to work backwards here after recognizing what I thought were the blues (classic video games), the falsehoods (yellow), and trying to date someone (green). But I narrowly missed the remains as I assumed it would be a purple group of COMETS, COIN TOSS, DEFENDER and DRESS COAT. I was just one away from a group there, and DEFENDER could have rivaled the video games, so I took a small risk that didn’t quite pay off. Nuts.

With my inverted rainbow dream dead, I quickly discarded the greens and yellows. I suspect that COMETS, ASTEROIDS and SONIC THE HEDGEHOG could form a group of things that move very quickly. But no, there was definitely a group of games here.

I made a terrible mistake by not trying to figure out the connection between COMETS, COIN TOSS and DRESS COAT to find the final word/phrase for the purples. Instead, I tried to get there by brute force, repeatedly guessing the blues that kept SONIC THE HEDGEHOG in suspense each time. I was sure it had to be one of the blues, but no! I didn’t remember that Tails (a cute little fox with two tails that can be used as propulsion) is Sonic’s sidekick.

I’m both amused and very angry with myself about this!! I played often Sonic2 I was with my cousin when we were kids and I always enjoyed playing as Tails to support her (maybe that explains why I prefer playing as support Overwatch 2 nowadays). So I knew that. I also knew that the Blues were all Atari games.

I suspect this game will ruin a lot of streaks. But maybe we can restore it due to a technicality since Tails wasn’t there Sonic the Hedgehog, the original game in the series – he debuted in Sonic2.

Side note: It took me until an embarrassingly late age to realize that Tails’ real name, Miles Prower, was a play on words. It’s “miles per hour.”

That’s all for today Connections Hints and answers. Be sure to check out my blog tomorrow for hints and the walkthrough for Monday’s game if you need it.

PS Phew, I’m so annoyed that I don’t want to make a recommendation today.

Just kidding. I have to sing and dance to loud music to vent this frustration. Here’s “A Certain Shade Of Green” by Incubus (I think an Atari Teenage Riot song would be more appropriate, but alas):

I still have to take a look too Atari 50! I haven’t played the collection yet so I can’t officially recommend it, but it seems pretty darn cool:

I wish you a wonderful day! Make sure you drink enough water! Call someone you love!

If you feel like it, please do 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! Keep following me too Bluesky! It’s fun there.