'Connections' January 29: Hints and Answers for Puzzle #598

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Connections quickly became an online sensation after it was released by The New York Times in June 2023—and it remains as popular as ever.

The word puzzle is now the news outlet's second-most played game after Wordle. Connections challenges players to uncover threads connecting a series of words.

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 "Band," "Bench," "Dumbbell," and "Mat" under the category "Resistance Training Equipment."

Each of the four categories is labeled with a color, which also signifies the difficulty level. Yellow is the easiest category, followed by green, blue and purple, which is the hardest. 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 only used 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 New York Times who developed 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," Liu 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 clues and 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.