NEW ‘Connections’ Hints and Answers for Saturday 28th December

Looking for tips and answers on Friday Connections instead? You can find them here:

ForbesNEW ‘Connections’ hints and answers for Friday 27th DecemberBy Chris Holt

Hey guys! We’re still mostly in the dead zone of the holidays, so I hope you’re making the most of this time to relax and enjoy yourself with loved ones.

For the second year in a row, I get way too much into the World Darts Championship. There is nothing else quite like it in sports and the way this pub game has been transformed into an absolute spectacle that captivates millions is quite incredible. I love darts.

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

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

Today’s NEW Connections advice and answers for Saturday 28 December are on the way.

How Connections plays

Connections is a free, popular New York Times daily word game. You get a new puzzle at midnight every day. You can play on NEW website or game app.

You are presented with a grid of 16 words. Your task is to arrange them into four groups of four by finding out the connections between them. The groups can be things like clickable items, names of research study participants, or words with a body part in front.

There is only one solution to each puzzle and you have to be careful when it comes to words that can fit into more than one category. You can mix up the words to perhaps help you see connections between them.

Each group is color coded. The yellow group is usually the easiest to figure out, blue and green fall in the middle, and the purple group is usually the hardest. The purple group often involves puns.

Choose four words that you think go together and press send. If you guess and you’re wrong, you lose a life. If you’re close to having a correct group, you may see a message telling you that you’re one word away from getting it right, but you still need to figure out which one to swap.

If you make four mistakes, it’s game over. Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen with some tips and if you’re really struggling, today’s is Connections answer. As with Wordle and other similar games, it’s easy to share results with your friends on social media and group chat.

If you have one NEW Free access or Play subscription, you can access the publication’s Connections file. This includes all previous games of Connectionsso you can go back and play any of them you missed.

Apart from the first 60 games or so, you should be able to find my tips for each grid via Google if you need them! Just click here and add the date of the game for which you need clues or the answers to the search query.

What’s today’s hookup tip?

Roll slowly! Right after the hints for each of today’s Connections groups, I will reveal what the groups are without immediately telling you what words are included in them.

Today’s 16 words are…

• MINEFIELD
• HABIT
• ITSY
• HORNETATED
• PANDORA’S BOX
• HERSHEY
• PIECE OF CAKE
• AEGIS
• HISTAMINE
• SAFE THING
• THE APPLE OF DISCORD
• DECK
• EASY
• GOLDEN FLEECE
• CAN
• NO SWEAT

And hints for today Connections groups are:

• Yellow group — no problem, you’ve got it
• Green Group – Zeus will likely have been aware of these
• Blue group — the beginning really belongs in this group
• Purple group – heels and stones would fit in here

What are today’s connection groups?

Do you need extra help?

Be warned: we’re starting to come in spoiler territory.

Today’s Connections groups are…

• Yellow group – “nothing about it!”
• Green group — objects from Greek myth
• Blue group — starts with possessive pronouns
• Purple group — proverbial things to kick

What are today’s connections answers?

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

This is your last warning!

Today’s Connections the answers are…

• Yellow group – “nothing about it!” (EASY, NO SWEAT, PLAY OF CAKE, SAFE THING)
• Green group — items from Greek myth (AEGIS, APPLE OF DISCORD, GOLDEN FLEECE, PANDORA’S BOX)
• Blue group — starts with possessive pronouns (HERSHEY, HISTAMINE, ITSY, MINEFIELD)
• Purple group — proverbial things to kick (CAN, HABIT, HORNETTED, TIRES)

Back-to-back perfect games have increased my total streak to six wins. Here’s how I managed:

Phew, it was a lot more straightforward than it appeared at first glance. There was a potential red herring of things that can cause problems if disturbed – PANDORA’S BOX, MINEFIELD and HORNET’S NEST – but I avoided that easily enough.

The yellow ones stuck out like a sore thumb, so I got those first. Easy peasy. The greens were next. I was pretty sure about three of them. Even though I didn’t know what AEGIS was, it was the only word that seemed to make sense with the others. After looking it up, I found that it is an animal hide or shield mentioned in The Iliad.

I thought there would be some kind of pun here, given that MINEFIELD and HISTAMINE start and end with the same four letters (and also because there’s nothing else on the grid at all that made sense of the latter on the surface). But when I looked more closely at the remaining words, I saw that four of them started with his, hers, its, and mine. It should be the purple ones.

I’ll be honest, it’s been a long (but fun!) week, so I didn’t think much of figuring out the connection between the blues. But it all made sense when I saw the answer pop up.

“Kick the TIRES” is an expression that means doing research before buying something or making an investment. “Kick the CAN down the road” means to postpone dealing with a problem until later. “Kick the HORNET’S NEST” means to stir up trouble or create controversy. And “kick the HABIT” means giving up something harmful that you have been doing for a long time.

That’s all there is to it for today Connections clues and answers. Be sure to check my blog tomorrow for tips and the fix for Sunday’s game if you need them.

PS I can’t remember the last time I heard this but after watching NO SWEAT online the Inner Circle song “Sweat (A La La La La Long)” stuck well in my head. Anyone else suddenly craving a mid-winter getaway to the Caribbean?

Have a nice day! Make sure to drink enough water! Call someone you love!

If you are so inclined, go for 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! Also follow me further Blue sky! It’s fun there.