'Connections' January 10: Answers and Hints for Puzzle #579

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Connections has become to be a firm favorite among word-puzzle fans since arriving on the scene a little over a year and a half ago.

Launched by The New York Times in June 2023, Connections now holds the distinction of being the news outlet's second most-played game—after the hugely popular brainteaser Wordle.

While Wordle, which was created by Josh Wardle, requires players to find one word a day, Connections challenges players to find common threads between a series of words. Players must group them into categories.

Instructions on how to play the game are below. Clues and the answers for today's puzzle are toward the end of the article.

How To Play 'Connections'

Connections tasks players with grouping 16 words into four categories based on association. For example, a recent game linked the words "Booth," "Table," "Stand," and "Stall" under the category "Vendor's Spot at a Market."

Each of the four categories is labeled with a color, which also signifies their difficulty level. Yellow is the easiest category, followed by green, blue and purple. However, the puzzles are rarely straightforward, using homophones and wordplay, among other techniques, to keep players challenged.

The familiarity of the words used and how often they pop up in modern life are also difficulty factors, although less-common words aren't used only in the harder categories. "Item overlap," where one word can be linked to multiple categories, is another way Connections tests players.

If stuck, players can hit the shuffle button, which will mix up where the words appear on the screen.

Wyna Liu, a crossword editor at the Times who was asked to develop Connections, told Newsweek about her recommended tips for playing the game.

"My best piece of advice is to wait as long as you can before guessing," she said.

"You may see the board and have completely identified the category, seeing five words that could belong in that category," she continued. "Don't try to guess the four words in that category because, even though you know what the fifth member is, you won't know which of the four it might not be," which would ultimately waste a turn.

"Don't do what I do, which is 'rage solve,'" Liu said.

The answers for today's Connections puzzle will be revealed at the end of this article, so scroll with caution if you want to work them out yourself.