Today’s NYT Connection Tips, Answers for December 26, #564

Looking for the more recent Connection answers? Click here for today’s Connections suggestionsas well as our daily answers and hints for the New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzle.

U New York Times Connection Puzzle I had some easy categories today, especially the green group, I think. And although the purple group is supposed to be difficult, I am a little fascinated with its theme. I bet it shows up in another puzzle one day. Read on for today’s Connections tips and answers.

Read more: Tips, Advice and Strategies to help you win at NYT Connections every time

How to play Connections

Playing is easy. Victory is hard. Look at the 16 words and mentally assign them to groups of four. Click on the four words that you think go together. The groups are color coded, although you won’t know what goes where until you see the answers. The yellow group is the easiest, then green, then blue, and purple is the hardest. Look carefully at the words and think of related terms. Sometimes the connection has to do with only part of the word. Once, four words were grouped together because they each started with the name of a rock band, including “Rushmore” and “Journeyman.”

Read more: The new NYT Connect game for sports fans lets players swing for the fences

Suggestions for today’s Connections groups

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

Yellow group tip: Almost

Green group advice: Oak or elm.

Blue group tip: Substantial.

Purple group tip: min. and Wash. I am among them.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

yellow group: Approximately.

Green group: trees

Blue group: Sizable, as a quantity.

purple group US state abbreviations, per AP style guide.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are the answers from Connections today?

Yellow words in today’s Connections

The topic is about The four answers are about, around, as and approximately.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is trees. The four answers are elder, palm, pine and spruce.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is great, as is a quantity. The four answers are beautiful, healthy, respectable and clean.

Purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is US state abbreviations, per AP style guide. The four answers are ALA, ARK, MISS and ORE.