{"id":1209970,"date":"2023-12-08T21:00:10","date_gmt":"2023-12-09T02:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1209970"},"modified":"2023-12-08T21:00:10","modified_gmt":"2023-12-09T02:00:10","slug":"todays-nyt-connections-hints-and-answer-for-saturday-december-9-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1209970","title":{"rendered":"Today&#039;s NYT Connections Hints (and Answer) for Saturday, December 9, 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019re looking for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/games\/connections\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"(opens in a new window)\">Connections<\/a> answer for Saturday, December 9, 2023, read on\u2014I\u2019ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solutions to all four categories. Along the way, I\u2019ll explain the meanings of the trickier words and we\u2019ll learn how everything fits together. <strong>Beware, there are spoilers below for December 9, NYT Connections #181! <\/strong>Read on if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today\u2019s Connections game.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If you want an easy way to come back to our Connections hints every day, <a href=\"https:\/\/lifehacker.com\/entertainment\/connections\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><u>bookmark this page<\/u><\/a>. You can also find our past hints there as well, in case you want to know what you missed in a previous puzzle.<\/p>\n<p>Below, I\u2019ll give you some oblique hints at today\u2019s Connections answers. And farther down the page, I\u2019ll reveal the themes and the answers. Scroll slowly and take just the hints you need!<\/p>\n<div class=\"eloquent-imagery-image\">\n<div class=\"flex justify-center\">\n                    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"border border-gray-100\" src=\"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/images-1.fill_.size_2000x1137.v1701871922.jpg\" alt=\"NYT Connections board for December 9, 2023: NAIL, SHAKE, RICE, PEANUT, NOTE, FLOAT, PALM, SCREW, FINGERS, OLIVE, BOLT, SPLIT, CORN, RIVET, WICKET, SUNDAE.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1137\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"mt-2\">\n                            <span class=\"mt-2 font-akshar text-sm tracking-wide\" \/><br \/>\n                                        <span class=\"text-xs inline-block text-gray-600\">Credit: Connections\/NYT<\/span>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Does today\u2019s Connections game require any special knowledge?<\/h2>\n<p>Nothing too out of the ordinary today.<\/p>\n<h2>Hints for the themes in today\u2019s Connections puzzle<\/h2>\n<p>Here are some spoiler-free hints for the groupings in today\u2019s Connections:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>Yellow category &#8211; Get these at the malt shop.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Green category &#8211; And these at the hardware shop.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Blue category &#8211; These are slippery.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Purple category &#8211; And these are the opposite of slippery.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Does today\u2019s Connections game involve any wordplay?<\/h2>\n<p>There\u2019s a fill-in-the-blank for the purple category.<\/p>\n<p>Ready to hear the answers? Keep scrolling if you want a little more help.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>BEWARE: Spoilers follow for today\u2019s Connections puzzle!<\/h2>\n<p>We\u2019re about to give away some of the answers. Scroll slowly if you don\u2019t want the whole thing spoiled. (The full solution is a bit further down.)<\/p>\n<h3>What are the ambiguous words in today\u2019s Connections?<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>A WICKET is the little wire archway you hit the ball through in croquet. There is also a WICKET in cricket, the sport that looks like bizarro world baseball. It\u2019s from cricket we get the phrase \u201csticky WICKET,\u201d meaning a difficult situation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>To FLOAT is to stay above water, literally or metaphorically; it\u2019s also what you call it when you drop a scoop of ice cream into a glass of root beer (a \u201croot beer FLOAT\u201d).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Something very interesting can RIVET you to your seat, but that comes from the meaning of RIVET as a fastener. (Jeans, for example, famously use RIVETs to reinforce the pocket seams.)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"mx-auto mt-8 w-full max-w-4xl\">\n<div id=\"video-container-Uwhrec1f2KM\" \/>\n<\/div>\n<h3>What are the categories in today\u2019s Connections?<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>Yellow: ICE CREAM TREATS<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Green: HARDWARE FASTENERS<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Blue: COOKING OILS<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Purple: STICKY ____<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>DOUBLE BEWARE: THE SOLUTION IS BELOW<\/h2>\n<p>Ready to learn the answers to today\u2019s Connections puzzle? I give them all away below.<\/p>\n<h3>What are the yellow words in today\u2019s Connections?<\/h3>\n<p>The yellow grouping is considered to be the most straightforward. The theme for today\u2019s yellow group is ICE CREAM TREATS and the words are: FLOAT, SHAKE, SPLIT, SUNDAE.<\/p>\n<h3>What are the green words in today\u2019s Connections?<\/h3>\n<p>The green grouping is supposed to be the second-easiest. The theme for today\u2019s green category is HARDWARE FASTENERS and the words are: BOLT, NAIL, RIVET, SCREW.<\/p>\n<h3>What are the blue words in today\u2019s Connections?<\/h3>\n<p>The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today\u2019s blue category is COOKING OILS and the words are: CORN, OLIVE, PALM, PEANUT<\/p>\n<h3>What are the purple words in today\u2019s Connections?<\/h3>\n<p>The purple grouping is considered to be the hardest. The theme for today\u2019s purple category is STICKY ____ and the words are: FINGERS, NOTE, RICE, WICKET.<\/p>\n<h2>How I solved today\u2019s Connections<\/h2>\n<p>I get the oils first: PALM, OLIVE, CORN, PEANUT. \ud83d\udfe6 Then I see the \u201csticky\u201d things: FINGERS, WICKET, NOTE, and the delicious dish sticky RICE. (I\u2019m just glad they didn\u2019t try to put \u201cstick\u201d in this category, <a href=\"https:\/\/lifehacker.com\/entertainment\/nyt-connections-answer-today-november-27-2023\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><u>like they did last time<\/u><\/a>.) \ud83d\udfea<\/p>\n<p>BOLT, NAIL, RIVET, and SCREW pretty clearly go together. \ud83d\udfe9 That leaves us with desserts: FLOAT, SHAKE, SUNDAE, and a banana SPLIT. \ud83d\udfe8<\/p>\n<pre class=\"back border-2 border-gray-400 bg-gray-100 p-4 text-black shadow-md\">Connections \nPuzzle #181\n\ud83d\udfe6\ud83d\udfe6\ud83d\udfe6\ud83d\udfe6\n\ud83d\udfea\ud83d\udfea\ud83d\udfea\ud83d\udfea\n\ud83d\udfe9\ud83d\udfe9\ud83d\udfe9\ud83d\udfe9\n\ud83d\udfe8\ud83d\udfe8\ud83d\udfe8\ud83d\udfe8<\/pre>\n<h2>How to play Connections<\/h2>\n<p>I have a full <a href=\"https:\/\/lifehacker.com\/try-connections-if-you-re-bored-with-wordle-1850534478?rev=1693236802678\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><u>guide to playing Connections<\/u><\/a>, but here\u2019s a refresher on the rules:<\/p>\n<p>First, find the Connections game either <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/games\/connections\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"(opens in a new window)\">on the New York Times website<\/a> or in their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/crosswords\/apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"(opens in a new window)\">Crossword app<\/a>. You\u2019ll see a game board with 16 tiles, each with one word or phrase. Your job is to select a group of four tiles that have something in common. Often they are all the same type of thing (for example: RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, and SNOW are all types of wet weather) but sometimes there is wordplay involved (for example, BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH are all types of <em>lists<\/em>: bucket list, guest list, and so on).<\/p>\n<p>Select four items and hit the Submit button. If you guessed correctly, the category and color will be revealed. (Yellow is easiest, followed by green, then blue, then purple.) If your guess was incorrect, you\u2019ll get a chance to try again.<\/p>\n<p>You win when you\u2019ve correctly identified all four groups. But if you make four mistakes before you finish, the game ends and the answers are revealed.<\/p>\n<h2>How to win Connections<\/h2>\n<p>The most important thing to know to win Connections is that the groupings are designed to be tricky. Expect to see overlapping groups. For example, one puzzle seemed to include six breakfast foods: BACON, EGG, PANCAKE, OMELET, WAFFLE, and CEREAL. But BACON turned out to be part of a group of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.francis-bacon.com\/paintings\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"(opens in a new window)\">painters<\/a> along with CLOSE, MUNCH, and WHISTLER, and EGG was in a group of things that come by the dozen (along with JUROR, ROSE, and MONTH). So don\u2019t hit \u201csubmit\u201d until you\u2019ve confirmed that your group of four contains <em>only<\/em> those four things.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re stuck, another strategy is to look at the words that seem to have <em>no<\/em> connection to the others. If all that comes to mind when you see WHISTLER is the painting nicknamed <a href=\"https:\/\/philamuseum.org\/calendar\/exhibition\/the-artists-mother-whistler-philadelphia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"(opens in a new window)\">\u201cWhistler\u2019s Mother,\u201d<\/a> you might be on to something. When I solved that one, I ended up googling whether there was a painter named Close, because Close didn\u2019t fit any of the obvious themes, either.<\/p>\n<p>Another way to win when you\u2019re stuck is, obviously, to read a few helpful hints\u2013which is why we share these pointers every day. Check back tomorrow for the next puzzle!<\/p>\n<p>&#013;<br \/>\n&#013;<br \/>\nSource: LifeHacker &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/lifehacker.com\/entertainment\/nyt-connections-answer-today-december-9-2023\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Today&#8217;s NYT Connections Hints (and Answer) for Saturday, December 9, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019re looking for the Connections answer for Saturday, December 9, 2023, read on\u2014I\u2019ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solutions to all four categories. Along the way, I\u2019ll explain the meanings of the trickier words and &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1209970\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1209971,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91,110],"tags":[92],"class_list":["post-1209970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifehacker","category-unfiltered-rss","tag-lifehacker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1209970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1209970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1209970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1209971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1209970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1209970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1209970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}