If today’s NYT Connections puzzle left you scratching your head, you weren’t alone. Puzzle #931, released on Sunday, Dec. 28, featured an especially challenging mix of categories — including one word many players admitted they had to look up. Below is a complete breakdown of today’s hints, categories, and final answers to help you make sense of the grid. Connections has quickly become one of the most popular daily word games from The New York Times, alongside Wordle and the Mini Crossword. The goal is simple in theory: sort 16 words into four groups of four based on a shared connection. In practice, the overlap and misdirection can make it deceptively difficult.
How NYT Connections Works
Each puzzle contains four hidden categories, color-coded by difficulty once solved. Yellow is the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple — the hardest and often most abstract group. Players can make up to four mistakes before the game ends. Like Wordle, the puzzle refreshes daily at midnight local time and is the same for everyone.
Hints for Today’s Connections Groups
Before revealing the answers, here are the official-style hints that guided today’s puzzle:
Yellow group hint: Send me something
Green group hint: Frozen in place
Blue group hint: What time is it?
Purple group hint: Woof!
The purple group, as usual, leaned into wordplay — while the blue group tripped up many players with technical terminology.
Today’s Connections Answers Explained
Yellow Group: Containers for Shipping
The easiest category focused on items used to send things through the mail.
Answers: Box, Envelope, Mailer, Tube
Green Group: Unmoving
This group collected words describing something that does not change or move.
Answers: Constant, Static, Stationary, Still
Blue Group: Mechanical Watch Parts
This was the most challenging category for many players, thanks to less familiar vocabulary.
Answers: Gear, Pawl, Ratchet, Spring
The term pawl — a small mechanical component that prevents backward motion — proved to be the stumbling block.
Purple Group: Dogs With First Letter Changed
The hardest group relied on playful word transformations of dog breeds.
Answers:
Dusky (Husky)
Noodle (Poodle)
Perrier (Terrier)
Soxer (Boxer)
Why Today’s Puzzle Was Tough
The combination of technical language and clever wordplay made this one particularly tricky. Even knowing the answers, some players noted that recognizing the categories — especially the blue and purple groups — required very specific knowledge.
Track Your Progress With Connections Bot
After completing the puzzle, players can visit the Connections Bot, a companion tool similar to Wordle Bot. Available to registered NYT Games users, it assigns a numeric score and analyzes your solving path. Players can also track stats like win rate, streaks, total puzzles completed, and perfect games.
More Daily Puzzle Help
If Connections isn’t enough to satisfy your puzzle habit, The New York Times also offers daily challenges including Wordle, the Mini Crossword, Strands, and Connections: Sports Edition.
