NYT Connections today — my hints and answers for Thursday, December 19 (game #557)

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need clues.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #556) - today's words

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• TAP
• TUG
• KEG
• BARREL
• TABLE
• SUB
• BARGE
• HAMMER
• COUNTER
• LADDER
• GORILLA
• SHELVE
• JUNK
• DELAY
• STOOL
• POSTPONE

NYT Connections today (game #557) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: Raincheck
• GREEN: Saloon staples
• BLUE: Vessels
• PURPLE: Nintendo classic

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #557) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: DEFER
• GREEN: BAR FIXTURES 
• BLUE: WATERCRAFT 
• PURPLE: SEEN IN "DONKEY KONG" 

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #557) - the answers

The answers to today's Connections, game #557, are…

• YELLOW: DEFER DELAY, POSTPONE, SHELVE, TABLE
• GREEN: BAR FIXTURES COUNTER, KEG, STOOL, TAP
• BLUE: WATERCRAFT BARGE, JUNK, SUB, TUG
• PURPLE: SEEN IN "DONKEY KONG" BARREL, GORILLA, HAMMER, LADDER

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• My rating: Moderate
• My score: 2 mistakes

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In the mental Venn diagrams I was drawing today, two or three words could have gone in several categories – TABLE (Yellow and Green), JUNK (Yellow and Blue), BARREL (Green and Purple) and I fell for them all…

First I put JUNK instead of TABLE into what would become the Yellow group, then, thinking I was onto a sure thing, put BARREL in the Blue group – Barrel Boats are a thing right? Er… maybe not.

Having never played Donkey Kong (I’m more of a board game person) I was thankful that this group was the leftovers and done for me.

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Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Wednesday, 18 December, game #556)

• YELLOW: DEAL WITH FIELD, HANDLE, MANAGE, TACKLE
• GREEN: STYLES OF BEER BITTER, BOCK, SOUR, STOUT
• BLUE: INVESTMENT VERBS HEDGE, HOLD, SHORT, TRADE
• PURPLE: _DOME CAPITOL, CHROME, ONION, TEAPOT

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What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.