If you’re seeking the solution to the Connections game for Wednesday, January 1, 2025, you’ve come to the right place. This post will provide various hints, insightful suggestions, and tactics, culminating in the answers for each of the four categories. Additionally, difficult words will be clarified, facilitating a better understanding of how everything interrelates. Warning: Spoilers ahead for January 1, NYT Connections #570! Continue if you’re eager to gather some clues (followed by the direct answers) for today’s Connections challenge.

For those who prefer easier access to daily Connections hints, bookmark this page. This resource also houses previous hints, allowing you to explore what you might have overlooked in earlier puzzles.

Here, hints will be provided to assist you in identifying today’s Connections answers. Further down, the themes and complete solutions will be unveiled. Take your time and only take the hints you need!

Credit: Connections/NYT

Thematic Hints for Today’s Connections Puzzle

Below are some hints for identifying today’s group themes without revealing too much:

• Yellow category – Shares a similarly slimy texture.

• Green category – All are sources of illumination.

• Blue category – Linked to a distinct European region.

• Purple category – Each word has akin endings.

WARNING: Spoilers Ahead for Today’s Connections Puzzle!

Prepare for a revelation of answers. Continue scrolling cautiously if you wish to avoid full disclosure. (Complete solutions are located further below.)

Attention to Tricky Elements

Today’s board features numerous compound words; however, the most relevant combinations contain a shared ending component uniting them.

There is an animal-related cluster, but watch out for an additional item that doesn’t fit.

CLONG is a footwear style characterized by a wooden sole popular in specific geographical areas.

Categories Featured in Today’s Connections

• Yellow: SLIMY CREATURES

• Green: LUMINOUS OBJECTS

• Blue: DUTCH ICONS

• Purple: WORDS ENDING IN SYNONYMS FOR “DIVE”

DOUBLE WARNING: ANSWERS FOLLOW

Prepare to unveil today’s Connections solutions. The full answers are detailed below.

The Yellow Words in Today’s Connections

The yellow category is generally straightforward. The theme is SLIMY CREATURES, with the words being: EARTHWORM, EEL, SALAMANDER, and SLUG.

The Green Words in Today’s Connections

The green grouping is considered moderately simple. Today’s theme here is LUMINOUS OBJECTS, comprised of: AURORA, FIREFLY, GLOWSTICK, and RADIUM.

The Blue Words in Today’s Connections

The blue category represents a moderate challenge. Today’s blue theme is DUTCH ICONS, including: CANAL, CLOG, TULIP, and WINDMILL.

The Purple Words in Today’s Connections

The purple set is viewed as the most challenging. The theme revolves around WORDS ENDING IN SYNONYMS FOR “DIVE,” which comprises: GATECRASH, RAINDROP, SKYDIVE, and WATERFALL.

Solving the Day’s Connections

Wishing a joyful New Year to all enthusiasts engaged with Connections! Let’s explore the first puzzle of 2025.

The term GATECRASH raises questions—it denotes attending a gathering without an invitation.

There’s an array of slippery creatures included: EARTHWORM, SLUG, FIREFLY, SALAMANDER, and EEL. FIREFLY seems the least fitting among these. It may connect better with the luminous category, alongside GLOWSTICK, AURORA, and RADIUM.

Initiating with the set GLOWSTICK, AURORA, RADIUM, and FIREFLY seems reasonable. 🟩

Apprehensively contemplating the animal group now, notably since the overlapping compound words include: RAINDROP, WINDMILL, SKYDIVE, WATERFALL, and GATECRASH.

Let’s proceed and test: EARTHWORM, SLUG, EEL, SALAMANDER. 🟨 Success!

Presuming that RAINDROP, WATERFALL, SKYDIVE, and GATECRASH form a cohesive set, given their commonality in depicting falling actions. 🟪

This leaves us with WINDMILL, CLOG, TULIP, and CANAL. Are these all related to the Netherlands? 🟦 Affirmative!

Connections
Puzzle #570
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟦🟦🟦🟦

Playing Connections: A Brief Overview

A complete guide to playing Connections is available, but here’s a quick recap of the essential rules:

Begin by finding the Connections game either on the New York Times website or through their Games app (formally known as the Crossword app). The game board displays 16 tiles, each featuring a word or phrase. Your task is to select a group of four tiles sharing a commonality. These connections may represent types of entities (like RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, and SNOW as different weather forms) or may involve linguistic nuances (for example, BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH correspond to types of lists: bucket list, guest list, etc.).

Choose your four items and press the Submit button. A correct guess will reveal the category and color-coded position (with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and finally purple). Should your guess be wrong, you’ll be prompted to try again.

Your goal is to accurately identify all four groups. However, if four mistakes are committed before completion, the game concludes, and the answers will be disclosed.

Winning Strategies for Connections

The fundamental aspect of triumphing in Connections lies in the understanding that the groupings are intentionally designed to be challenging. Overlapping categories are commonplace. For instance, a previous puzzle featured breakfast items: BACON, EGG, PANCAKE, OMELET, WAFFLE, and CEREAL. Yet, BACON ultimately belonged to a category of artists including CLOSE, MUNCH, and WHISTLER, while EGG was a component of a category consisting of items usually purchased in dozens (alongside JUROR, ROSE, and MONTH). Thus, refrain from hitting “submit” until you have confirmed that your chosen set of four includes only those four items.

Additionally, if you encounter difficulties, one effective tactic involves focusing on words seeming disconnected from the rest. If the thought of WHISTLER conjures images of the painting titled “Whistler’s Mother,” it might lead you in the right direction. One past solution led to researching a potential painter named Close, as it too didn’t align with any obvious themes.

When stuck, reading helpful hints can also offer clarity—one of the main reasons hints are shared daily. Check back soon for the next puzzle!