Today’s Connections hint and answer on 1st December for 539
How to group together today’s NYT Connections.
It's December! Celebrate the new month by spending a few minutes figuring out the Connections answer for today, 1st December.
If you haven't played it before, Connections challenges you to sort a group of 16 words into four groups where all of the words are well... connected. This connection could come from them sharing a similar meaning, being part of a place name, objects found in a kitchen or anything at all really!
While this may sound easy, the Connection groups each have a different level of difficulty - with Yellow being the easiest and Purple being the hardest. For this reason, working out today's Connection answer might be rather tricky. You may get one group straight away, but another might be a mystery to you. Thankfully we're here to help!
Originally developed during The New York Times game department's annual game jam, the beta version of Connections was released in June 2023. Since then it has become one of the most popular games The NYTimes has to offer, only beaten by Wordle. Though some connections have been made to the BBC's Only Connect program...
Hint for today's Connections answer
Instead of jumping straight to the answer, let's start with some hints for today's Connections puzzle:
- Yellow - Places.
- Green - Sports.
- Blue - Food.
- Purple - What word could come before?
- Shelter belongs to Yellow, Jersey belongs to Green, and Wonka belongs to Blue.
Remember - Yellow is the easiest group to find followed by Green and Blue, with Purple being the hardest set of words to connect.
Connection words for 1st December
Here's the words included in today's Connections puzzle - see if the clues above help you form a connection before we visit today's answer:
| Solo | Jersey | Willy | Wonka |
| York | Haven | Kinder | Bird |
| Pads | Charms | Port | Helmet |
| Retreat | Fallin' | Cleats | Shelter |
Connections answer for 1st December
Without further ado, here's the Connections answer for today:
- Sanctuary - Haven, Port, Retreat, Shelter
- Football Gear - Cleats, Helmet, Jersey, Pads
- Candy Names - Charms, Kinder, Wonka, York
- "Free ___" - Bird, Fallin', Solo, Willy
Today's Connections was tricky for me! I got green right off the bat, but I fumbled around and missed a few guesses before I could get to purple. After that, though, I was able to piece together yellow and blue right away.
What to play after Connections?
The obvious answer to this question is Wordle, but, if you've already solved that today, then The New York Times does offer other games. When it comes to word-based games, The NYTimes has the Mini Crossword, Spelling Bee, Letter Boxed and Strands, which is still in its beta phase. If you fancy a break from words, then you can also try Tiles - a motif matching game - or Sudoku.
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Outside of The NYTimes, there's Semantle - where you have to reach the secret word by guessing its meaning. Spelling doesn't count in Semantle, instead you have to pay attention to the numerical value your guesses have to chart your path to the answer. If you'd prefer to keep to the Connections format, however, then it's worth visiting Puzzgrid. Here you'll find hundreds of Connections-style puzzles, the twist, however, is that you only have three minutes to solve them.
(You can also just watch Only Connect on BBC iPlayer...)
If you're in a reading mood, then we've discussed why The NYTimes Mini Crossword is a reliable joy and interviewed Jonathan Knight, Head of Games for The NYTimes.
Good luck solving today's Connections!