NYT Connections today: answers and hints for Monday, January 1

By

Sam Hill

January 1, 2024 10:17AM

Connections is the latest puzzle game from the New York Times. The game tasks you with categorizing a pool of 16 words into four secret (for now) groups by figuring out how the words relate to each other. The puzzle resets every night at midnight and each new puzzle has a varying degree of difficulty. Just like Wordle, you can keep track of your winning streak and compare your scores with friends.

Some days are trickier than others. If you’re having a little trouble solving today’s Connections puzzle, check out our tips and hints below. And if you still can’t get it, we’ll tell you today’s answers at the very end.

How to play Connections
In Connections, you’ll be shown a grid containing 16 words — your objective is to organize these words into four sets of four by identifying the connections that link them. These sets could encompass concepts like titles of video game franchises, book series sequels, shades of red, names of chain restaurants, etc.

There are generally words that seem like they could fit multiple themes, but there’s only one 100% correct answer. You’re able to shuffle the grid of words and rearrange them to help better see the potential connections.

Each group is color-coded. The yellow group is the easiest to figure out, followed by the green, blue, and purple groups.

Pick four words and hit Submit. If you’re correct, the four words will be removed from the grid and the theme connecting them will be revealed. Guess incorrectly and it’ll count as a mistake. You only have four mistakes available until the game ends.

Hints for today’s Connections
We can help you solve today’s Connection by telling you the four themes. If you need more assistance, we’ll also give you one word from each group below.

Today’s themes

Gardening Nouns/Verbs
Kinds Of Salads
Classic Game Shows, Familiarly
W + Vowel Sound

One-answer reveals

Gardening Nouns/Verbs – Plant
Kinds Of Salads – Caesar
Classic Game Shows, Familiarly – Feud
W + Vowel Sound – Way

New York Times
Today’s Connections answers
Still no luck? That’s OK. This puzzle is designed to be difficult.  If you just want to see today’s Connections answer, we’ve got you covered below:

Gardening Nouns/Verbs – Plant, Seed, Water, Weed
Kinds Of Salads – Caesar, Greek, Garden, Wedge
Classic Game Shows, Familiarly – Feud, Millionaire, Pyramid, Wheel
W + Vowel Sound – Way, Wee, Why, Whoa

Connections grids vary widely and change every day. If you couldn’t solve today’s puzzle, be sure to check back in tomorrow.

Editors’ Recommendations

Wordle Today: Wordle answer and hints for January 1

Move over, Wordle: The New York Times has a new puzzle game

Wordle is now playable on New York Times Crossword app

Wordle is getting its own board game adaptation from Hasbro

New York Times’ new WordleBot tool will sharpen your Wordle skills

Sam Hill is a journalist and the gaming guides editor at Digital Trends. He’s also written tech guides for Input and has…

Today’s Wordle answer changed due to Roe v. Wade

There are some days when Wordle players get different answers depending on the browser they’re using to play the game. Today happens to be one of those days, but for a vastly different reason. The New York Times revised today’s Wordle answer because of its unintentional connection to the Supreme Court’s impending ruling on Roe v. Wade.

The original answer to Wordle 324 was supposed to be “fetus.” Wordle founder Josh Wardle scheduled that solution to show up today over a year ago, long before The New York Times bought the game at the height of its popularity in January. Everdeen Mason, editorial director for New York Times Games, said in a statement that it changed the answer to something entirely different because of its proximity to the Supreme Court’s draft opinion that leaked last week and contained a proposal to overturn the 1973 landmark Roe v. Wade abortion ruling, which sent shock waves across the country.

Read more

Move over, Bungie: New York Times acquires Wordle

Wordle, a popular word-based puzzle game that’s dominated social media feeds in recent months, was acquired by The New York Times Company on January 31. It was the second significant gaming-related acquisition of the day, following Sony’s $3.6 billion acquisition of Destiny developer Bungie. 

The New York Times did not share the specific price of the acquisition, but did say in its announcement that it paid creator Josh Wardle an amount “in the low seven figures.” That’s a much smaller figure than Sony’s acquisition, but Wordle likely reaches a lot more people than even Destiny 2 currently does. 

Wordle is simple, engaging, and easy to share on social media. Image used with permission by copyright holder

While The New York Times is primarily a news publication, it has expanded into casual gaming in recent years. “The Times remains focused on becoming the essential subscription for every English-speaking person seeking to understand and engage with the world,” its article on the deal said. “New York Times Games are a key part of that strategy.”

Wardle claims New York Times Games played a part in the October 2021 creation of Wordle, adding that “this step feels very natural to me.”

It sounds like The New York Times could eventually put Wordle behind a paywall. “The company said the game would initially remain free to new and existing players,” The New York Times article notes, with “initially” being the keyword there. Thankfully, Wardle promises that Wordle will still be free and that wins and streaks will be preserved once the game transitions to The New York Times’ website. 

The New York Times highlights how it wants to grow its digital subscriptions to 10 million by 2025. Locking Wordle behind that subscription would undoubtedly drive some people to subscribe, but The New York Times also risks Wordle losing relevancy and upsetting a happy player base if it does that.

That’s not something we’ll have to worry about for now, as Worlde is still available for free online.

Read more

GameStop starts selling Doom Eternal today — 1 day early — to limit crowds

GameStop is allowing players to purchase Doom Eternal starting today, one day ahead of its official release, due to coronavirus concerns and to adhere to social distancing recommendations.

The latest first-person shooter from Id Software officially launches Friday, March 20, but GameStop is looking to adhere to social distancing guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The health organization recommended canceling all gatherings of more than 50 people last week, and President Donald Trump later said groups should be limited to no more than 10 people.

Read more