Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers for Jan. 17, #586

Looking for latest Connections answer? Click here for today’s Connections tip, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

---

I got a kick out of a few of the categories in today’s NYT Connections puzzle. The purple one is cool again. Don’t think of words with similar meanings, think of words that hide similar words in them. Yep, that’s how the purple category works. Read on for today’s Connections tips and answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numerical score and have the program analyze your answers. And players registered in the Times Games section can now geek out by following their progressincluding number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they got a perfect score and their winning streak.

Read more: Hints, tips and strategies to help you win at NYT Connections every time

Tips for today’s Connections groups

Here are four tips for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group tip: Hotdog

Green group tip: Punch

Blue Group Tip: Used to browse

Purple group tip: Raise a glass

Reply to today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Frankfurter

Green group: strike

Blue group: Web browsers

Purple group: Ends with beer brands

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here are the most popular letters used in English words

What is today’s Connections answer?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is frankfurters. The four answers are banger, brat, link and sausage.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is strike. The four responses are bop, hit, knock and knock.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is web browsers. The four answers are Chrome, Edge, Opera and Safari.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme ends with beer brands. The four answers are autoharp, double bass, pepperoni and rosebud.

Toughest Connections puzzle

We’ve noted down some of the hardest Connections puzzles so far. Perhaps they will help you see patterns in future puzzles.

#5: Included “things you can set,” such as mood, record, table, and volleyball.

#4: Included “one out of a dozen,” such as egg, juror, month, and rose.

#3: Included “streets on screen,” such as Elm, Fear, Jump and Sesame.

#2: Included “power ___” such as Nap, Plant, Ranger, and Trip.

#1: Included “things that can run,” such as candidate, faucet, mascara, and nose.