Looking for today's Connections answers? The Connections answers on December 5 for puzzle #543 gets a bit easier than yesterday's puzzle, with the Connections Companion rating this puzzle's difficulty at 3.4 out of 5.
Every day, we update this article with Connections hints and tips to help you find all 4 of today's answers. And if the hints aren't enough, you'll find all four answers below, with the category titles and the correlating words. Plus, we're including a reflection on yesterday's puzzle, #542, in case you're reading this in a different time zone.
Spoilers lie ahead for Connections #543. Only read on if you want to know today's Connections answers.
Alternatively, visit our how to play NYT Connections guide for tips on how to solve the puzzle without our help.
Today's Connections answer — hints to help you solve it
Unlike our guide to today's Wordle answer, where we recommend the best Wordle start words as your strategy, solving Connections relies on identifying connecting categories among 16 words. Each category's difficulty level is represented by a color; yellow is the easiest grouping, and purple is the most challenging. Once you've made 4 mistakes in your guesses, the answers will be revealed, so hints can be helpful.
If you need hints to solve the groupings, then here are the themes of each, based on the order of difficulty:
- 🟨 Yellow: Aptitude
- 🟩 Green: Exterior
- 🟦 Blue: Tech companies
- 🟪 Purple: ____ Stone
These hints should get you at least some of the way towards finding today's Connections answers. If not, then you can read on for bigger clues; or, if you just want to know the answer, then scroll down further.
Here's a larger hint: Take up the stone and avoid the tech outside while showing your talents.
Today's Connections answers
So, what are today's Connections answers for game #543?
Drumroll, please...
- 🟨 Aptitude: Flair, gift, instinct, nose
- 🟩 Exterior: Face, front, outside, surface
- 🟦 Tech companies: Amazon, Apple, Intuit, Oracle
- 🟪 ____ Stone: Brim, lime, rhine, yellow
I kicked today off with a strike, thinking I was being clever. I don't know if this was supposed to be a trap but I saw Rhine and immediately thought river, which led to Apple, Yellow and Amazon. It was a trap unfortunately.
Recovering from that misstep I ignored those words and did see flair and instinct. Which let me get nose and flair for aptitude.
My second guess for Rhine was rhinestone. I saw brim(stone), yellow(stone) and lime(stone). A nice early purple knock out.
I suppose, working for a tech site, it would have been embarrassing if I left tech companies with Amazon, Apple, Intuit, and Oracle for last. We didn't.
Which left green and exteriors as the last grouping. This one had face, front, outside, surface.
Yesterday's Connections answers
Reading this in a later time zone? Here are the Connections answers for game #542, which had a difficulty rating of 3.8 out of 5, according to the Connections Companion.
Today, we'll steer you toward guide and shepherd which will give you lead and direct for the yellow category.
After that I knew Pan, Atlas, and Helen were a part of Greek myth. I wasn't 100% sure on Echo, mostly because I couldn't recall her story. There are different versions, but I believe her sin was offending Hera.
For a minute I was stuck with green and purple. I had loofah, toiletries and candle for a bathroom theme but wasn't connecting the synonyms idea. I tried turntable and sewing kit but kept getting the one away message. To be honest, putting Johnson in here was a frustration guess with a dash of "wouldn't that be funny." And it was.
Which left the green category and of things with needle(s). Compass, sewing kit, turntable and pine tree. Sure, okay. Either lean into the singular or don't. That's all I have to say there.
