NYT Connections Today – Hints and Answers for Wednesday, December 4 (Game #542)
Good morning! Let’s play Connections, the NYT’s clever word game that challenges you to group answers into different categories. It can be tricky, so read on if you need pointers.
What should you do when you’re done? Of course, play some word games. 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 word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about today’s NYT Connections is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.
NYT Connections Today (Game #542) – Today’s Words
Today’s words from NYT Connections are…
- PAN
- PINE
- PIPE
- CANDLE
- COMPASS
- LOOFAH
- TURNTABLE
- SHEPHERD
- ATLAS
- TOILET ITEMS
- ECHO
- GUIDE
- SEWING KIT
- HELEN
- DIRECTLY
- JOHNSON
NYT Connections Today (Game #542) – Hint #1 – Group Hints
What are some pointers for current NYT Connections groups?
- Yellow: To follow
- Vegetable: Get the point
- Blue: Ancient figures
- Purple: Bathroom jargon
Need more clues?
We’re firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four themed answers are for today’s NYT Connections puzzles…
NYT Connections Today (Game #542) – Hint #2 – Group Answers
What are the answers for today’s NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: STEERING
- GREEN: THINGS WITH NEEDLE/S
- BLUE: FIGURES IN GREEK MYTH
- PURPLE: STARTING WITH SYNONYMS FOR TOILET
Okay, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections Today (Game #542) – The Answers
The answers to today’s Connections game, game #542, are…
- YELLOW: STEERING DIRECT, GUIDE, GUIDANCE, SHEPHERD
- GREEN: THINGS WITH NEEDLE/S COMPASS, PINE TREE, SEWING KIT, TURNTABLE
- BLUE: FIGURES IN GREEK MYTH ATLAS, ECHO, HELEN, PAN
- PURPLE: STARTING WITH SYNONYMS FOR TOILET CANDLE, JOHNSON, LOOFA, TOILETRIES
- My rating: Moderate
- My score: 2 mistakes
Hi Johnny here, he’s taking over Connections duties from Marc for a while (he’ll be back every now and then I’m sure – and he’s still looking after the daily Wordle page today, don’t worry about that !).
Being a very easy LEAD person, the Yellow group immediately appeared before my eyes. The same couldn’t be said for the rest of today’s words, which – as is often the case around midnight – seemed like a random jumble of letters.
I tried a second group that seemed to be about using very old technology to get somewhere – COMPASS, CANDLE, ATLAS and err ECHO, nature’s GPS (if you’re in a cave or in an Alpine valley with someone who can yodelling).
If I’m misunderstanding this one, I used up another mistake by guessing that CANDLE, SEWING KIT, LOOFAH, TOILETRIES were all gifts you would buy for your grandmother.
Then reason got the better of me and I reached for some worn-out knowledge of Greek mythology. I bundled ATLAS, HELEN and PAN and took a chance on ECHO. This made finding THINGS WITH NEEDLE/S much easier, and then the final four revealed themselves, leaving me feeling somewhat defeated. Oh, dear Connections, you destroyer of souls…
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday’s NYT Connections answers (Tuesday, December 3, game #541)
- YELLOW: SOPRANOS CARMELA, JUNIOR, MEADOW, TONY
- GREEN: FAMILY NICKNAMES CUZ, GRAMMY, MUMMY, POP
- BLUE: ‘SESAME STREET’ CHARACTERS COOKIE, COUNT, OSCAR, SNUFFY
- PURPLE: NAMES THAT SOUND LIKE TWO LETTERS CECE, EDIE, EMMY, KATIE
What is NYT Connections?
NYT Connections is one of the New York Times’ increasingly popular word games. It challenges you to find groups of four items that have something in common, and each group has a different level of difficulty: green is easy, yellow is slightly harder, blue is often quite hard, and purple is usually very hard.
On the plus side, you technically don’t have to solve the last question because you can answer it by a process of elimination. Plus, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you some breathing room.
It’s a bit more complicated than something like Wordle, though, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For example, beware of homophones and other word games that can obscure the answers.
It is playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
