Looking for today's Connections answers? The Connections answers on January 21 for puzzle #224 are significantly trickier than yesterday's, with the Connections Companion rating this puzzle's difficulty at 4.0 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, #223, in case you're reading this in a different time zone.
Spoilers lie ahead for Connections #224. 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: Taken to the cleaners
- 🟩 Green: Mr Miyagi puts this on, and off, his car
- 🟦 Blue: Jet-setting
- 🟪 Purple: Salad days
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: Some of today's Connections may trick you into thinking that you're looking for parts of the human body. But they're pulling your leg. Instead, consider what might surround you the next time you head abroad on holiday.
Today's Connections answers
So, what are today's Connections answers for game #224?
Drumroll, please...
- 🟨 Rip off: Fleece, Hose, Rob, Stiff
- 🟩 Things made of wax: Candle, Crayon, Honeycomb, Seal
- 🟦 Parts on an airplane: Cabin, Engine, Nose, Wing
- 🟪 Units of vegetables: Bulb, Ear, Head, Stalk
Convinced that the first category I was looking for must have something to do with the human body, it says a lot about my subconscious that I opted to combine Head, Nose, and Ear with... Wing. Seriously. An incorrect answer and a reminder that I should probably stop taking my kids' fairytale books so literally.
Moving swiftly on, my next line of thinking was to potentially connect Fleece, Honeycomb, and Candle as part of a theme of natural byproducts. But it was when I spotted Crayon that I came around to the thought that it may be more specifically related to wax. Out went Fleece and in came Seal to complete my first category of the day.
A shuffle conveniently placed Wing and Cabin next to each other, which prompted wistful memories of summer holidays and I soon connected them to Engine and Nose, for parts on an airplane.
With blue and green complete, there was a little impasse in proceedings until the words Fleece and Hose reminded me of my recent and regular grumbles in the supermarket ("How much?!"), and so Rob and Stiff completed the rip-off theme.
Bulb, Ear, Head, and Stalk remained, which I assumed was plant-related when I hit submit to complete a successful game. I was close, they're all units of vegetables. A useful reminder that I might have gotten that quicker if I only ate more of them...
Yesterday's Connections answers
Reading this in a later time zone? Here are the Connections answers for game #223, which had a difficulty rating of 2.5 out of 5, according to the Connections Companion.
Tap, Shower, Sink... we find ourselves in the bathroom with today's Connections answers surely? But, try as I might, I had no luck finding a fourth word that would fit the theme.
Some people like to sing in the shower but it's probably best to avoid dancing in there, and that tenuous segue brings me to the first category I found today. Tap is not only another term for faucet but is, of course, a type of dance, as is Modern, Salsa, and Swing.
- 🟨 Decline: Dip, Drop, Fall, Sink
- 🟩 Move with speed: Blaze, Fly, Race, Tear
- 🟦 Kinds of dance: Modern, Salsa, Swing, Tap
- 🟪 Baby ______: Boom, Carrot, Shower, Talk
After a brief consideration of themes of fishing (Fly) and microphones (Boom), I felt suitably defeated. But pondering my decline soon helped, as Dip, Drop, Fall, and Sink rang a little too true for comfort to complete the yellow category.
Fortunes turned, I raced to complete the green category, adding Blaze, Fly, and Tear to, yep, Race, for a full set of 'Move with Speed'. Result!
This left Boom, Carrot, Shower, and Talk... though I was still none the wiser about what connected them when I hit submit. Then the purple category all became apparent. As ever, the trick to solving Connections, is to take baby steps...
