For those seeking the answers to the Connections puzzle for Friday, January 24, 2025, this article is for you. Insights, tips, and methods for success will be shared, alongside solutions for each of the four categories. In this process, we’ll decode some of the more challenging terms and discover how the pieces link together. Warning: Spoilers for January 24, NYT Connections #593 are included! Keep reading for hints that will guide you (and eventually the complete answers) for today’s challenge.

To simplify your daily return for Connections hints, consider bookmarking this page. Historical hints are also available here, so you can catch up on any past puzzles you might have missed.

The forthcoming section provides subtle hints regarding today’s Connections answers, and further down, the themes and solutions will be disclosed. Proceed slowly and only take the clues you find necessary!

Credit: Connections/NYT

Hints for Today’s Connections Themes

Here are some hints for today’s groupings, with no spoilers:

• Yellow Category: An action often taken by writers, poets, or those with passionate emotions.

• Green Category: Actions that parents typically discourage in their children.

• Blue Category: A field or craft someone might dedicate their life to.

• Purple Category: A word fit for a fill-in-the-blank, specifically pertaining to a small piece of fabric used for repairs.

WARNING: Spoilers Ahead for Today’s Game!

Details of the answers are upcoming, so proceed cautiously if you wish to avoid a complete reveal. (The full solution is further along in the text.)

Notes on the More Challenging Aspects

Words like BROOD and LITTER both connect to animal births but carry distinct meanings in this context, serving as verbs.

The term SOUL can be associated with a specific sort of unfortunate facial hair.

TRADE functions here as a noun, for example, indicating a profession such as construction.

Categories in Today’s Connections

• Yellow: CONTEMPLATE

• Green: RUDE BEHAVIORS

• Blue: VOCATION

• Purple: ___ PATCH

CAUTION: SOLUTIONS BELOW

Eager to unveil the answers for today’s Connections puzzle? Find them all below.

Yellow Words in Today’s Connections

The yellow category tends to be the most accessible. The central theme is CONTEMPLATE, with the words being: BROOD, MUSE, PONDER, REFLECT.

Green Words in Today’s Connections

The green group is considered the second-easiest. The theme for this category is RUDE BEHAVIORS, and the words include: INTERRUPT, LITTER, POINT, STARE.

Blue Words in Today’s Connections

The blue category is slightly more challenging. The theme revolves around VOCATION, encompassing the terms: CRAFT, LINE, TRADE, WORK.

Purple Words in Today’s Connections

The hardest grouping is purple, which aligns with the theme ___ PATCH, featuring the words: CABBAGE, NICOTINE, ROUGH, SOUL.

Strategy for Solving Today’s Puzzle

Both LITTER and BROOD can denote large quantities (is this the appropriate term?) of offspring. Yet BROOD can additionally represent verbs akin to REFLECT, STARE, MUSE, and PONDER. Identifying the odd one out is essential.

CRAFT, LINE, WORK, and TRADE correspond to various fields of expertise. 🟦 VOCATION! That’s the keyword.

NICOTINE is intriguing. It likely pairs with CABBAGE as both can refer to certain types of patches, connecting through ROUGH and SOUL. 🟪

With the two more straightforward categories left, REFLECT, MUSE, BROOD, and PONDER seem fitting, whereas LITTER, STARE, INTERRUPT, and POINT are less intuitive. LITTER appears misplaced among those.

So, let’s experiment with REFLECT, MUSE, BROOD, and PONDER to see the outcome. 🟨 Success!

Next, LITTER, STARE, POINT, and INTERRUPT could be refined further; they all (except LITTER) seem to indicate actions to gain attention, yet the connection to rudeness clicks into place. 🟩 Success achieved.

Connections
Puzzle #593
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Playing Connections: A Quick Overview

A comprehensive guide on Connections is available, but here’s a brief overview of how to play:

Begin your adventure by locating the Connections game either on the New York Times website or via their Games app (previously known as the Crossword app). You will be presented with a game board showcasing 16 tiles, each bearing a word or phrase. Your goal is to identify a cluster of four tiles sharing similar attributes. These could be categories of items (for instance, RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, and SNOW represent types of precipitation) or could involve wordplay (for example, BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH are all kinds of lists: bucket list, guest list, etc.).

Once you have selected four items, press the Submit button. A correct guess will reveal the category and its color (where yellow represents the easiest category, followed by green, blue, and purple in increasing order of difficulty). If incorrect, you can make another attempt.

Winning means successfully identifying all four groups. However, if you make four incorrect guesses before finishing, the game concludes, and the answers are revealed.

Effective Strategies to Win Connections

To excel in Connections, recognize that the groupings are often designed to be deceptive. Expect overlaps among groups. For example, past puzzles have included words like BACON, EGG, PANCAKE, OMELET, WAFFLE, and CEREAL, seemingly identifying breakfast foods. However, BACON ultimately fit within a collection of painters, while EGG aligned with a grouping of dozen-related items (including JUROR, ROSE, and MONTH). Thus, ensure that your selections contain only those four words.

When in doubt, look for words that don’t seem to match other items. For example, if WHISTLER only brings to mind the famed painting known as “Whistler’s Mother,” that might guide you toward a solution. In a similar situation, verifying whether there exists a painter named Close could lead to further insights.

If stuck, seeking assistance from shared hints can be fruitful—which is the purpose of providing these tips daily! Be sure to check back tomorrow for another exciting puzzle!