Your Guide to the NYT Connections Puzzle for January 2, 2025
If you’re in search of the Connections solution for Thursday, January 2, 2025, you’re in the right place. This post will delve into hints, strategies, and insights on tackling each of the four categories. Additionally, there will be explanations for some of the tougher words along with a comprehensive look at how they interconnect. Caution: Spoilers ahead for NYT Connections #571 on January 2! Proceed if you want some tips (and the final answers) for today’s Connections game.
To easily return for daily hints regarding Connections, bookmark this page. You can also find previous hints here if you’re curious about past puzzles you’ve missed.
Below, readers will find subtle hints leading to today’s Connections answers. Further down the page, the themes and answers will be disclosed. Remember to scroll at your own pace and take only the clues you desire!
Hints for Today’s Connections Themes
Here are some spoiler-free clues for category groupings in today’s Connections:
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Yellow category – A sighting to remember.
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Green category – A good dancer requires the ability to understand these aspects.
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Blue category – All tied to a specific number or measurement.
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Purple category – A fill-in-the-blank involving a common household animal.
Warning: Spoilers Ahead for Today’s Connections!
Under this section, answers are divulged. Scroll carefully if you wish to avoid complete spoilers. (The detailed solution lies further down.)
Tip on the Difficult Aspects
The terms CLOCK and TIME shouldn’t be seen as a pair—CLOCK functions as a verb here.
METER and INCH also do not belong together.
Similarly, DAYS and MONTH shouldn’t be grouped.
Categories in Today’s Connections
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Yellow: PERCEIVE
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Green: CADENCE
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Blue: ONE IN A GROUP OF TWELVE
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Purple: DOG ___
Spoiler Alert: Answers Below
Ready to uncover the solutions to today’s Connections? They are revealed below.
Yellow Word Group
Considered straightforward, today’s yellow grouping revolves around the theme PERCEIVE, featuring the words: CATCH, CLOCK, NOTICE, and REGISTER.
Green Word Group
The green category is deemed the second-easiest, linked to the theme CADENCE with words: BEAT, METER, RHYTHM, and TIME.
Blue Word Group
The blue category presents a moderate challenge, identified as ONE IN A GROUP OF TWELVE, containing: DONUT, INCH, JUROR, and MONTH.
Purple Word Group
This is the most challenging category today, centering on DOG ___ with words: DAYS, PADDLE, TAG, and TIRED.
Solving Today’s Connections
The words BEAT, METER, and RHYTHM exhibit related meanings—they describe the flow or rhythm of something. Although TIME could fit, more evaluation is required.
DONUT, CLOCK, MONTH, and INCH are linked to the number twelve. This connection feels very much like a classic Connections set. ‘One away.’ Wait a moment. Perhaps JUROR fits here. Indeed, CLOCK aligns with CATCH, REGISTER, and NOTICE.
Next, let’s propose DONUT, MONTH, INCH, JUROR. 
Then, for CLOCK, CATCH, REGISTER, NOTICE. 
With more resolved, TIME, METER, BEAT, and RHYTHM look solid. 
This leaves TIRED, PADDLE, TAG, and DAYS. Interesting. ‘Freeze TAG’, ‘DAYS for dead TIRED’. No certainty here! Let’s reconsider. 
It’s DOG ___. Ah, there we go!
Connections Puzzle #571
Guide to Playing Connections
A complete guide to playing Connections exists, but here’s a brief overview of the rules:
First, access the Connections game via the New York Times website or their Games app. You’ll face a board with 16 tiles, each showcasing a word or phrase. The objective is to select a group of four tiles sharing a common link. Often, items belong to the same category (e.g., RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, and SNOW represent types of wet weather), but sometimes clever wordplay is applied (for instance, BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH relate to types of lists: bucket list, guest list, etc.).
Choose four items and click the Submit button. When guessed correctly, the category and color will be revealed. (Colors indicate difficulty: yellow is the simplest, followed by green, blue, and purple.) If the guess is incorrect, another chance to try again is provided.
You win by correctly identifying all four groups. However, if four incorrect guesses occur before completion, the game ends and solutions are displayed.
Winning Strategies for Connections
The key to triumphing in Connections is recognizing that the groupings are crafted to challenge participants. Anticipate overlapping categories. For example, one puzzle featured six breakfast items: BACON, EGG, PANCAKE, OMELET, WAFFLE, and CEREAL. However, BACON was actually linked to a category of artists alongside CLOSE, MUNCH, and WHISTLER; simultaneously, EGG was included in a group of items typically found by the dozen (like JUROR, ROSE, and MONTH). Thus, confirm that your four-group selection consists of only those four items before hitting “submit.”
If in a bind, consider examining terms that appear to lack connections with others. For instance, a focus on WHISTLER might indicate a potential link to the painting called “Whistler’s Mother.” In solving that challenge, one might have looked up if there existed a painter named Close, as it didn’t seem to connect with obvious themes either.
When stuck, generally reading hints becomes a helpful strategy—this is precisely why daily tips are provided. Don’t forget to return tomorrow for the next challenge!
