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**NYT ‘Connections’ Hints and Answers for Tuesday, December 31**
As we enter the final days of the year, it’s time to dive back into the world of Connections. Today’s game presented a mild thematic grid with BALL and DROP as the first two words. The puzzle required some creative thinking, but ultimately, I was able to secure nine wins.
The answers are as follows:
* Yellow group: move quickly (BOLT, DART, DASH, FLY)
* Green group: fun time (BALL, BLAST, KICK, THRILL)
* Blue group: words before an addressee (ATTENTION, DEAR, FOR, TO)
* Purple group: name ____ (BRAND, DROP, GAME, NAMES)
In this game, I initially focused on the yellows and quickly figured them out. Next, I explored the idea of having a good time with BALL, BLAST, KICK, and THRILL. Unfortunately, my initial attempt to include THRILL and BALL didn’t pan out immediately. I then shifted my attention to FOR and TO, knowing that there couldn’t be too many options for those words to slot into. It took me just a moment from there to grasp the blues.
I went back to my previous thought and tried incorporating GAME with them, but it didn’t quite work out. Only a second later did I realize that KICK should go with them to get the greens. This left me stumped on the purple words until the end of the game.
The connection between the purple group is surprisingly sneaky: “name NAMES” typically refers to identifying people involved in something shady. On the other hand, BRAND can refer to a product made by a well-known company. DROP means casually mentioning someone famous you know or have met. Additionally, “The Name GAME” is a song that plays with names using nonsense rhyming words.
Source: www.forbes.com
