Looking for today's Connections answers? The Connections answers on January 10 for puzzle #213 are noticeably trickier than yesterday, with the Connections Companion rating this puzzle's difficulty at 2.8 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 4 answers below, with the category titles and the correlating words. Plus, we're including a reflection on yesterday's puzzle, #212, in case you're reading this in a different time zone.
Spoilers lie ahead for Connections #213. Only read on if you want to know today's Connections answers.
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: Abracadabra
- 🟩 Green: Feel the heat
- 🟦 Blue: What happens in Vegas
- 🟪 Purple: You feta believe it
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.
Alright then, here's a larger hint: Be wary today, there are some especially tricky traps waiting for you with words that can feasibly fit nicely into two categories. The phrase "fight fire with fire" isn't always the best life advice, but in this case, it's not a bad place to start in order to extinguish those fiery threats.
Today's Connections answers
So, what are today's Connections answers for game #213?
Drumroll, please...
- 🟨 Bit of magic: Charm, Burse, Hex, Spell
- 🟩 Found around a fireplace: Flue, Grate, Log, Poker
- 🟦 Things seen at a casino: Cards, Chips, Dice, Slots
- 🟪 Ways to prepare cheese: Crumble, Melt, Shred, Slice
Today's Connections grid is bursting with sorcery, which I found very quickly to my detriment when I made two early mistakes. Firstly, with visions of smart tuxes and evening gowns, I combined Poker, Chips, Cards, and Slots, fairly certain that I'd hit the Vegas jackpot. One away!
Having figured that Dice may have been the missing pick but without any obvious weak link in my original selection, I moved to try my luck elsewhere. Melt, Shred, Grate, and Crumble seemed to link nicely, reading like instructions from my favorite recipe book. But yet again I was one away.
Thankfully I was swiftly out of my funk when I spotted an enchanting alternative, scoring my first category of the day with Charm, Curse, Hex, and Spell - a magical combination I'm sure you'll agree, though without offering any solution to my quandaries above.
I returned to what I'll now call my cookbook combo, removing Grate and replacing it with Slice, and as the selected words did their little category-completing dance, a cheesy smile emerged on my face.
That's because, with Grate out of the picture for the purple category, a spark was lit as I linked it instead with Log and Flue, recalling those recent roaring Christmas fires. But what else could match? Why, our old friend Poker of course!
Chips no longer down, this left me with Cards, Chips, Dice, and Slots for the Vegas dream team. Thankfully, the house didn't win on this occasion!
Yesterday's Connections answers
Reading this in a later time zone? Here are the Connections answers for game #212, which had a difficulty rating of 2.1 out of 5, according to the Connections Companion.
Yesterday's Connections grid was a smorgasbord of sensory triggers, with words that popped with vivid intensity—Smoke and Heat and Salt and Acid!
As an occasional hay fever sufferer, I teary-eyed Pollen, Smoke, Dust, and Pepper—each a nemesis of the nostril for allergic rhinitis sufferers. But hold on, I told myself, don't sneeze at the opportunity to scout the grid first for another set.
There, lurking mysteriously in the shadows, was Tracy, a clue leading me down a dark alley of names. Could it be? Dick Tracy, Magnum P.I., Monk, and Shaft? These are all TV detectives! I'd cracked the case wide open and the purple category was my first correct find today.
- 🟨 Cleaning supplies: Broom, Mop, Rag, Sponge
- 🟩 Elements of cooking, per Samin Nosrat: Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat
- 🟦 Things that make you sneeze: Dust, Pepper, Pollen, Smoke
- 🟪 Titular fictional detectives: Magnum, Monk, Shaft, Tracy
My confidence bloomed like springtime flora, and I circled back to my sniffly suspects. Sure enough, my hay fever hunch has been spot on—the blue category was a wrap.
That left Broom, Sponge, Mop, Rag, gleaming in their simplicity, the unsung champions of cleanliness. Yellow category, consider yourself swept up.
And for the final act, I saw the final words were the elemental forces of culinary alchemy, the four words that made up the title of Samin Nosrat's best-selling 2017 cookbook Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. With that, the green category was served up on a silver platter and the game was won.
Connections tips — how to win Connections
Connections relies more on your deductive skills and general knowledge, and you also don't get to know which word (or words) don't belong in your guessed groupings. Only if you've included one incorrect word, will the game tell you so.
To win Connections, you'll want to take your time looking at all 16 words before making your first guess. Do any words have more than pronunciation? Do any of the words mean more than one thing? Are any of the words part of larger phrases?
Often times, the answer that jumps out at your first will intentionally mislead you. That's why identifying any possible 5-word categories is a good strategy to start. Bookmark them and come back to them after you've solved another category or two, and it should help you figure out which of the 5 words belongs in a different category.
Most Connections categories aren't incredibly obvious. It's common for the editor to use phrases, puns and other tricky topics that will require you to think. If you're stuck on the categories, cycle through each word in the grid and brainstorm possible categories that word fits into, even if you don't see other related words in the puzzle.
What is NYT Connections?
Connections is a category matching game, launched as a beta experience on June 12, 2023. It then joined the NYT Games app (iOS, Android) officially on August 28, 2023. This app is how people can play the daily New York Times Crossword and ultra-viral game Wordle; however, you need a paid subscription for crossword access, while Wordle and Connections are free to play.
In Connections, you're presented with 16 words and need to group them into 4, 4-word categories. There are often words intended to mislead you, or seemingly 5-word categories. Your goal is to group the words properly without exceeding 4 guesses. If you can't solve it within 4 guesses, you've failed, and the answers will be revealed.
What time does the Connections puzzle come out?
The NYT Connections puzzle comes out daily. The game is refreshed at your device's midnight local time.
Where to play Connections
You can play Connections on the New York Times Game App, available for iOS/iPadOS and Android. If you're on a computer or your device's browser, you can access NYT Connections online here.
