Today's NYT Connections Hints (and Answer) for Saturday, December 2, 2023

Credit: Ian Moore

Today’s puzzle really had me in a–nevermind. No spoilers yet. If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Saturday, December 2, 2023, read on—I’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solutions to all four categories. Along the way, I’ll explain the meanings of the trickier words and we’ll learn how everything fits together. Beware, there are spoilers below for December 2, NYT Connections #174! Read on if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Connections game. 

If you want an easy way to come back to our Connections hints every day, bookmark this page. You can also find our past hints there as well, in case you want to know what you missed in a previous puzzle.

Below, I’ll give you some oblique hints at today’s Connections answers. And farther down the page, I’ll reveal the themes and the answers. Scroll slowly and take just the hints you need!

Does today’s Connections game require any special knowledge?

There are brief references to a video game and a grunge band, but it’s not essential to know any details about them to solve the puzzle. 

Hints for the themes in today’s Connections puzzle

Here are some spoiler-free hints for the groupings in today’s Connections:

Yellow category - Places you might put clothes.

Green category - Loops.

Blue category - Not too much!

Purple category - Goes with peanut butter?

Does today’s Connections game involve any wordplay?

There’s a fill-in-the-blank for purple.

Ready to hear the answers? Keep scrolling if you want a little more help.

BEWARE: Spoilers follow for today’s Connections puzzle!

We’re about to give away some of the answers. Scroll slowly if you don’t want the whole thing spoiled. (The full solution is a bit further down.)

What are the ambiguous words in today’s Connections?

To HAMPER something is to LIMIT it, but a HAMPER can also be another word for a laundry BASKET.

CHEST here is not referring to the body part, but to something like a treasure CHEST or a hope CHEST.

HOOPs and RINGs can both be jewelry. That’s not the connection, but these two words are in the same category today. PEARL is elsewhere, though.

What are the categories in today’s Connections?

Yellow: CONTAINERS

Green: CIRCULAR SHAPES

Blue: RESTRICT

Purple: ____ JAM

DOUBLE BEWARE: THE SOLUTION IS BELOW

Ready to learn the answers to today’s Connections puzzle? I give them all away below.

What are the yellow words in today’s Connections?

The yellow grouping is considered to be the most straightforward. The theme for today’s yellow group is CONTAINERS and the words are: BASKET, BIN, CHEST, HAMPER.

What are the green words in today’s Connections?

The green grouping is supposed to be the second-easiest. The theme for today’s green category is CIRCULAR SHAPES and the words are: BAND, CIRCLE, HOOP, RING.

What are the blue words in today’s Connections?

The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is RESTRICT and the words are: CAP, CHECK, CURB, LIMIT.

What are the purple words in today’s Connections?

The purple grouping is considered to be the hardest. The theme for today’s purple category is ____ JAM and the words are: NBA, PAPER, PEARL, TRAFFIC.

How I solved today’s Connections

NBA is a puzzler; it could go with BASKET and HOOP, I guess, but I would have expected its partners to be more like MLB and NFL. Let’s set that one aside. 

To CURB or CHECK something can mean to HAMPER it, or place some kind of LIMIT on what it can do. But that’s one away! CAP must be in the mix somewhere. So let’s set that aside and see what we can do next. 

I’m not seeing anything else, so I take a stab at waste PAPER, waste BASKET, waste BIN, and (come on, they’ve done puns this bad before) waist BAND. But nope, that doesn’t even get me a one away. 

I finally get my first group with HOOP, RING, CIRCLE, and BAND. 🟩 Then I see HAMPER, BASKET, CHEST, and BIN–all large containers you might find in your house. 🟨 That leaves CURB, CHECK, CAP, and LIMIT for my group of restrictions. 🟦

And finally, I see TRAFFIC jam, PAPER jam (like in a printer), PEARL Jam (the band), and the video game NBA Jam. 🟪

How to play Connections

I have a full guide to playing Connections, but here’s a refresher on the rules:

First, find the Connections game either on the New York Times website or in their Crossword app. You’ll see a game board with 16 tiles, each with one word or phrase. Your job is to select a group of four tiles that have something in common. Often they are all the same type of thing (for example: RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, and SNOW are all types of wet weather) but sometimes there is wordplay involved (for example, BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH are all types of lists: bucket list, guest list, and so on).

Select four items and hit the Submit button. If you guessed correctly, the category and color will be revealed. (Yellow is easiest, followed by green, then blue, then purple.) If your guess was incorrect, you’ll get a chance to try again.

You win when you’ve correctly identified all four groups. But if you make four mistakes before you finish, the game ends and the answers are revealed.

How to win Connections

The most important thing to know to win Connections is that the groupings are designed to be tricky. Expect to see overlapping groups. For example, one puzzle seemed to include six breakfast foods: BACON, EGG, PANCAKE, OMELET, WAFFLE, and CEREAL. But BACON turned out to be part of a group of painters along with CLOSE, MUNCH, and WHISTLER, and EGG was in a group of things that come by the dozen (along with JUROR, ROSE, and MONTH). So don’t hit “submit” until you’ve confirmed that your group of four contains only those four things.

If you’re stuck, another strategy is to look at the words that seem to have no connection to the others. If all that comes to mind when you see WHISTLER is the painting nicknamed “Whistler’s Mother,” you might be on to something. When I solved that one, I ended up googling whether there was a painter named Close, because Close didn’t fit any of the obvious themes, either.

Another way to win when you’re stuck is, obviously, to read a few helpful hints–which is why we share these pointers every day. Check back tomorrow for the next puzzle!