Today's NYT Connections Hints (and Answer) for Saturday, December 23, 2023

Credit: Ian Moore

If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Saturday, December 23, 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 23, NYT Connections #195! 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?

Nope, not today.

Hints for the themes in today’s Connections puzzle

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

Yellow category - Ways of traveling.

Green category - Ready to join in.

Blue category - Just a smidge.

Purple category - This one is fruit flavored!

Does today’s Connections game involve any wordplay?

Yes, 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?

A RASP can be a type of file, or a description of a hoarse voice. But today it’s neither of those things; you’ll need to combine it with another word for the fill-in-the-blank category.

You can be ON BOARD a TRAIN or BOAT at the time of departure (“All aboard!”) but you can also be ON BOARD with a plan or scheme that’s about to go down.

GOOSE and DOWN don’t go together today, so don’t think too much about feather-stuffed pillows.

SPLASH and DASH do go together.

What are the categories in today’s Connections?

Yellow: MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION

Green: WILLING TO PARTICIPATE

Blue: LITTLE BIT, IN A RECIPE

Purple: ____BERRY

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 MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION and the words are: BOAT, CAR, PLANE, TRAIN.

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 WILLING TO PARTICIPATE and the words are: DOWN, GAME, IN, ON BOARD.

What are the blue words in today’s Connections?

The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is LITTLE BIT, IN A RECIPE and the words are: DASH, DROP, PINCH, SPLASH.

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 ____BERRY and the words are: BLUE, GOOSE, RASP, STRAW.

How I solved today’s Connections

ON BOARD sounds like it refers to a boat or train, but then I realized it can also mean you’re IN on a plan. 🟩I got the recipe words next, 🟦then the means of transportation, 🟨 but I stared at RASP and friends for a good couple minutes without noticing that they are all berries. 🟪

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!