NYT Connections hints and answers for today, Saturday Jan 31
Need a Connections hint for today? Read our guide for help with Connections #964.
Looking for some Connections hints to help with today’s puzzle on Saturday, 31st January? Another day, another devilishly difficult Connections puzzle. Since you’re here, you’re probably struggling a bit, but don’t worry; even if all four themes have thus far remained hidden, a couple of word reveals, hints, and theme reveals will shed some light on the correct pairings.
How to play Connections
Connections is one of the most popular (and challenging) daily puzzle games published by the New York Times (owners of Wordle). The aim of Connections is to group the 16 words of the day into four groups, where each group of four words has a common theme.
For instance, the words “Hook”, “Nana”, “Peter”, and “Wendy” are all Peter Pan characters. Or to take another example, “Action”, “Ballpark”, “Go”, and “Stick” are all words which commonly come just before the word “Figure”. These are the kinds of Connections you’ll need to make to solve the puzzle.
Your job is to figure out what these themes are that connect the various words together – but be wary, because a lot of the time there are deceptive red herring connections placed purely to throw you off! To win the game, you have to find all four Connections without making 4 mistakes. On your fourth mistake, the game is over and the answer is revealed automatically.
Each of the four groups in each day’s Connections puzzle is also assigned a different colour, which represents how easy or difficult the Connection is to find. These colours are: Yellow (Easiest), Green (Easy), Blue (Medium), and Purple (Hardest).
Click here to play today’s Connections puzzle!
Connections hint: Today’s Connections words
Below you’ll find various hints for today’s Connections. Each of the below hints will make it progressively easier for you to solve today’s puzzle. First we’ll reveal the words in today’s Connections, followed by our Connections hint for each group. Then we’ll reveal one word inside each group, followed by the groups themselves; and finally, at the bottom of this page, we’ll reveal the answers to today’s Connections puzzle. Here are the 16 Connections words for today:
- WISHBONE
- RECEPTION
- COMPUTER KEY
- FLUCTUATION
- TUNING FORK
- WORK PERIOD
- PALETTE KNIFE
- STETHOSCOPE
- SLINGSHOT
- SPRAY CAN
- BALL
- BRUSH
- DRESS
- MIXER
- ROLLER
- SHOWER
Connections hint for Saturday 31st January
Here are your Connections hints for today:
- Yellow: Can you attend them?
- Green: As found in a studio.
- Blue: It concerns the shape.
- Purple: Add a kind of “alteration”.
- Extra hint 1: Every theme except purple contains a word starting with “S”.
- Extra hint 2: “Roller” and “mixer” are in different groups.
If you need a bit more help, tap the spoiler text below to reveal one word belonging to each group:
- Yellow: Mixer
- Green: Brush
- Blue: Slingshot
- Purple: Dress
Connections hints: All of today’s Connections groups
If you need an even bigger clue to figure out today’s Connections puzzle, below we’ll reveal the four correct Connections groups – the themes which link together each set of four words in the Connections grid.
Here are the Connections groups for today:
- Yellow: Kinds Of Parties
- Green: Ways To Apply Paint
- Blue: Y-shaped Things
- Purple: What “Shift” Might Refer To
Now that you know the themes for the various different Connections in today’s puzzle, see if you can solve it! If not, check below for the full answer.
Connections answer today
Here is the answer to today’s Connections puzzle on Saturday, 31st January:
- Yellow: Kinds Of Parties (Ball, Mixer, Reception, Shower)
- Green: Ways To Apply Paint (Brush, Palette Knife, Roller, Spray Can)
- Blue: Y-shaped Things (Slingshot, Stethoscope, Tuning Fork, Wishbone)
- Purple: What “Shift” Might Refer To (Computer Key, Dress, Fluctuation, Work Period)
“Palette knife” and “brush” was the first connection that stood out to me. I briefly considered “mixer” as a group member, but it was clear enough that I should add “roller’ and “spray can” instead. One Connections theme down, three to go!
Another match that stood out was “ball” and “reception”, but I wasn’t sure about an “event” theme right away. Only after I connected “wishbone” and “tuning fork”, and realised I was looking for similar shapes, thus removing the blue words from the equation, did I feel confident about the events theme as well.
I’m sure I wouldn’t have found purple, though. If you got it, I’m impressed! It’s definitely not the easiest “add a word” theme I’ve seen in a Connections challenge.
Congratulations if you got today’s Connections answer right, with or without the help of our handy hints above! And if you didn’t succeed today, don’t worry – a new Connections puzzle is released every day at midnight, so you can try again tomorrow, just like with Wordle!
