NYT Connections today — hints and answers for Tuesday, December 10 (game #548)
Nice console games 
Good morning! Let’s play Connections, the NYT’s clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need clues.
What should you do once you’ve finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I’ve also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc’s Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.
NYT Connections today (game #548) – today’s words
Today’s NYT Connections words are…
- FISH
- CALL
- WANDA
- RAN
- INLAND
- CRUISE
- FUMBLE
- TAXI
- TOUCHDOWN
- DUB
- OLIVIA
- ROOT
- NAME
- RUMMAGE
- TAKEOFF
- LABEL
NYT Connections today (game #548) – hint #1 – group hints
What are some clues for today’s NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: Hey mister
- GREEN: Start on the runway
- BLUE: Look in the dark
- PURPLE: Nations with something missing
Need more clues?
We’re firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today’s NYT Connections puzzles…
NYT Connections today (game #548) – hint #2 – group answers
What are the answers for today’s NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: GIVE A TITLE TO
- GREEN: PARTS OF A FLIGHT
- BLUE: FEEL AROUND (FOR)
- PURPLE: COUNTRIES MINUS FIRST LETTER
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #548) – the answers
The answers to today’s Connections, game #548, are…
- YELLOW: GIVE A TITLE TO CALL, DUB, LABEL, NAME
- GREEN: PARTS OF A FLIGHT CRUISE, TAKEOFF, TAXI, TOUCHDOWN
- BLUE: FEEL AROUND (FOR) FISH, FUMBLE, ROOT, RUMMAGE
- PURPLE: COUNTRIES MINUS FIRST LETTER INLAND, OLIVIA, RAN, WANDA
- My rating: Moderate
- My score: 1 mistake
Things that seem very obvious to American sports fans can be an utter mystery to those of us outside the US. From my rudimentary knowledge of the NFL, I knew that TOUCHDOWN and FUMBLE were football terms but could not decide on another pair. Could it be RUMMAGE, which sort of sounds like ‘scrummage’ (a term in rugby). FISH? Which possibly describes some unique move where a player puts the ball between their legs and swims up the field? Or maybe it’s TAXI, which would involve one player giving the player with the ball a piggyback to the End Zone?
Or maybe this could be one of those cunning Connections red herrings – just like FISH, CALL, and WANDA.
After this initial FUMBLE and dismissing the NFL terms, I connected the dots to land on PARTS OF A FLIGHT and cruised to glory as the rest of the groups slotted into place.
Yesterday’s NYT Connections answers (Monday, 9 December, game #547)
- YELLOW: DELIBERATION CONSIDERATION, REFLECTION, SCRUTINY, THOUGHT
- GREEN: USED IN STARTING A FIRE FLINT, LIGHTER, MAGNIFYING GLASS, MATCHES
- BLUE: USED TO VIEW A BIOLOGICAL SAMPLE MICROSCOPE, SLIDE, SPECIMEN, STAIN
- PURPLE: WORDS AFTER “X” FACTOR, FILES, GAMES, RAY
What is NYT Connections?
NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.
On the plus side, you don’t technically need to solve the final one, as you’ll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What’s more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.
It’s a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.
It’s playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
