Find the links between the words to win today’s game of Connections.
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Each day’s game of NYT Connections goes live at midnight local time. Before today’s NYT Connections hints, here’s what you missed on Monday:
ForbesNYT Connections Hints Today: Monday, December 15 Clues And Answers (#918)By Kris HoltForbesNYT Connections: Today’s Answers Explained (Monday, December 15, #918)By Kris Holt
Hey there, Connectors! I hope your week is off to a great start.
I’m making some plans for 2026 and honestly, it’s shaping up to be a fun year. I’ve got a bunch of concerts lined up and there’s the World Cup too. (I probably won’t be going to the World Cup in person, though. Have you seen those ticket prices?) I have some tentative vacation plans as well. I should get a move on and lock those in before things get too expensive.
Before we start, I want to mention the great community we have on Discord, where we chat about Connections, the rest of the NYT games and all kinds of other stuff. It’s a lovely, welcoming group of folks. I like to call it our cozy little corner of the internet. You’re more than welcome to join us. Don’t be shy!
Today’s NYT Connections hints and answers for Tuesday, December 16 are coming right up. Let’s get rolling!
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NYT Connections – How To Play
Connections is a free New York Times daily word game that you can play on the NYT’s website or Games app. If you have an NYT All Access or Games subscription, you can access the Connections archive, which includes every previous game.
Connections presents you with a grid of 16 words (sometimes phrases, symbols or numbers). The aim is to arrange them into four groups of four. You don’t know how they hit together or what the category for each group is: that’s what you have to figure out.
There’s only one correct solution and there are often red herrings. You can guess incorrectly three times. A fourth wrong guess, and it’s game over.
Each group is color coded. The yellow group is usually the easiest to deduce, followed by blue, green and purple. Often, the yellow and green groups have synonyms, the blues have cultural references and the purples have some kind of wordplay involved. But this is not a hard and fast rule. Be ready for curveballs – part of the fun of Connections is in how the NYT shakes things up to keep you on your toes.
As with Wordle and similar games, it’s easy to share results with your friends using an emoji-based grid. The game tracks your progress too.
Many players take pride in having long win streaks or getting a reverse rainbow – correctly guessing the purple, blue, green and yellow groups in that order with no mistakes. That adds an extra little challenge.
NYT Connections Hints – Today’s Word List
Scroll slowly! I’ll first give you a list of today’s words, then a hint for each category. After that, I’ll reveal one word that goes into each group. Then I’ll tell you the category names, followed by the full answers.
Today’s 16 words are…
POSTERITYBELLHOPLIFEBOATOFFSPRINGSPELLBOUNDFOXTROTRATTLESNAKEMAMBOCHIMERAROPEBOLERODRUMROLLBROODQUICKSTEPFAMILYSUSPICIONNYT Connections Hints
And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:
🟨 Yellow group — one step (and hip swivel) at a time🟩 Green group — won’t someone please think about the children?🟦 Blue group — when it all went downhill for Mary and Rebecca, they became notorious for murder(!)🟪 Purple group — a good song starts with a solid beatNYT Connections Hints – One Answer Per Group
Need some extra help?
Be warned: we’re starting to get into spoiler territory.
Let’s take a look at one answer for each group.
Here we go…
🟨 Yellow group — MAMBO🟩 Green group — OFFSPRING🟦 Blue group — ROPE🟪 Purple group — RATTLESNAKENYT Connections Hints – Groups/Categories
Today’s Connections groups are…
🟨 Yellow group — dances🟩 Green group — descendants🟦 Blue group — Hitchcock movies🟪 Purple group — starting with percussion instruments NYT Connections Answers
Spoiler alert! Don’t scroll any further down the page until you’re ready to find out today’s Connections answers.
This is your last chance to look away.
This is your final warning!
Today’s Connections answers are…
🟨 Yellow group — dances (BOLERO, FOXTROT, MAMBO, QUICKSTEP)🟩 Green group — descendants (BROOD, FAMILY, OFFSPRING, POSTERITY)🟦 Blue group — Hitchcock movies (LIFEBOAT, ROPE, SPELLBOUND, SUSPICION)🟪 Purple group — starting with percussion instruments (BELLHOP, CHIMERA, DRUMROLL, RATTLESNAKE)
There were a bunch of words on the grid that ended in a form of movement: (BELL)HOP, (OFF)SPRING, (SPELL)BOUND, (FOX)TROT, (DRUM)ROLL and (QUICK)STEP. I took my chances with the first four of those since they all have a type of jumping motion. But no, I wasn’t close to a group there. So I must have run into a red herring.
RATTLESNAKE kept calling to me, though. That didn’t seem to fit with anything else, so I figured it was a purple. DRUMROLL and BELLHOP stood out as words that started with percussion instruments too. It took me a minute to realize that CHIMERA (chime) was the fourth word to lock down my first group of the day.
From there, everything fell into place quickly, starting with the yellow dances, then the green children. It took me a moment to realize that POSTERITY was the fourth word, as I’d never heard it used in that context. That left the blues, and the connection clicked for me as soon as I saw them fall into place on the bottom line.
That’s win number 290 on the (fox)trot for your pal, Kris. How did you get on today? Here’s my grid:
🟪🟩🟦🟨
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟦🟦🟦🟦
Want to know more about how everything fits together? Let’s explore today’s game in more depth in my NYT Connections Answers Explained column here.
ForbesNYT Connections: Today’s Answers Explained (Tuesday, December 16, #919)By Kris Holt
That’s all there is to it for today’s Connections clues and answers. Be sure to check my blog tomorrow for hints and the solution for Wednesday’s game if you need them.
P.S. I was going to offer up a different recommendation today, but with OFFSPRING on the grid, I have to switch that up. They’re one of the bands I’m seeing live next year – in just a couple of months, in fact. Even though I’ve heard mixed things about their live show, I’m looking forward to it because I’ve never seen them in person.
Anyway, I’ve always enjoyed “Want You Bad.” While it’s hardly my favorite song of theirs, it’s a fun one:
Have a great day! Stay hydrated! Be kind to yourself and each other! Call someone you love!
Please follow my blog for more NYT Connections hints and help with other word games, and even some video game news, insights and analysis. It helps me out a lot! Sharing this column with other people who play Connections would be appreciated too. You can also read my weekend editions of this column at my newsletter, Pastimes.