NYT Connections for Tuesday, December 31, 2024, was puzzle #569. Use the progressive hints below before opening the clearly marked spoiler section containing all four answers.
Tuesday, December 31, 2024, was NYT Connections puzzle #569. The puzzle asks you to sort 16 words into four groups of four. If you want to solve it yourself, start with the hints below and stop before the spoiler section.
The 16 words in Connections #569
Here is the complete word grid:
- BALL
- DROP
- DART
- GAME
- ATTENTION
- DEAR
- BRAND
- NAMES
- THRILL
- FOR
- FLY
- BLAST
- BOLT
- KICK
- TO
- DASH
Hints for Tuesday, December 31
These clues progress from broad to specific. The first set should help without giving away much; the final set identifies one answer from each category.
Broad category hints
- Yellow: Words associated with swift or sudden motion.
- Green: Something exhilarating, memorable, enjoyable, or fun.
- Blue: Words that can appear before a person’s name or an addressee in a letter or message.
- Purple: Words that can follow the four-letter word “NAME.”
One-word hint for each group
- Yellow: BOLT
- Green: KICK
- Blue: ATTENTION
- Purple: BRAND
Still solving? The most deceptive words include BALL, which might look like a movement or sports answer; DROP, which can suggest sudden motion; and BRAND, which may initially seem unrelated to a phrase beginning with “NAME.” The blue category is based on how words function in written communication, while the purple category depends on familiar compounds and expressions.
#1 Best Overall
Spoilers: Connections answers for December 31, 2024
The complete solution is below. Stop here if you do not want the answers revealed.
Yellow: MOVE QUICKLY
BOLT, DART, DASH, FLY
Each word can describe moving quickly or suddenly. Someone can bolt, dart, or dash away, while fly can also mean to move rapidly.
Rank #2
Green: FUN TIME
BALL, BLAST, KICK, THRILL
These words can describe an enjoyable or exciting experience: have a ball, have a blast, get a kick out of something, or experience a thrill.
Blue: WORDS BEFORE AN ADDRESSEE
ATTENTION, DEAR, FOR, TO
These words can introduce or identify the intended recipient in written communication. Examples include “Attention: [name],” “Dear [name],” “For [name],” and “To [name].”
The Tool Desk
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BRAND, DROP, GAME, NAMES
Each word completes a familiar phrase beginning with “name”:
- name brand
- name-drop
- name game
- name names
Why this puzzle was tricky
The yellow and green categories both contain words that can evoke action or excitement, making it easy to test the wrong combination. BALL may look like it belongs with movement because a ball can fly or drop, but it belongs with the expressions for an enjoyable experience. Similarly, DROP may seem related to sudden movement, but its intended role is in “name-drop.”
The last two groups use different kinds of connections. The blue group is grammatical and situational: the words can introduce an addressee. The purple group is a phrase-completion category, with each answer following “NAME.” In Connections, categories are deliberately designed to create these overlapping possibilities rather than simply grouping words by one obvious dictionary meaning.
How to play and what happens after a mistake
Connections presents 16 words and asks you to find four groups of four. Select four words and submit them as a group. You can make up to four mistakes before the puzzle ends, so it is usually wise to hold back a category that has only three seemingly certain answers until you have checked the remaining words.
- Look first for an unusually precise phrase, spelling pattern, or grammatical relationship.
- Separate words that have several plausible meanings, such as BALL and DROP.
- Use the color difficulty system as a guide: yellow is generally the most approachable, followed by green, blue, and purple.
- If three words fit a category, search the remaining grid for the fourth rather than submitting too quickly.
- After finding one group, reconsider the remaining words from scratch; a tempting relationship may have been a decoy.
Can you still play puzzle #569?
Connections is released daily at midnight in the player’s local time. Eligible New York Times Games subscribers can use the archive, which includes puzzles dating back to June 12, 2023, so this historical puzzle may be available there rather than only on third-party answer pages. Archive access and eligibility can depend on the account and subscription level.
Optional offline practice
If you enjoy solving away from a screen, the publisher has described the official Connections puzzle book as a hardcover collection with more than 100 puzzles, exclusive puzzles, varied difficulty, and puzzle variations. The listed publisher date is October 27, 2026, so check the current publisher or retailer listing for publication status and availability. There is no claim that the book includes this December 31, 2024 puzzle.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the NYT Connections answers for Tuesday, December 31?
The answers are MOVE QUICKLY (BOLT, DART, DASH, FLY), FUN TIME (BALL, BLAST, KICK, THRILL), WORDS BEFORE AN ADDRESSEE (ATTENTION, DEAR, FOR, TO), and NAME ___ (BRAND, DROP, GAME, NAMES).
What is the purple category in Connections #569?
The four words are BRAND, DROP, GAME, and NAMES. They complete the phrases name brand, name-drop, name game, and name names.
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Which year does Tuesday, December 31 refer to?
The date refers to Tuesday, December 31, 2024, and the puzzle was Connections #569. December 31, 2025, was not a Tuesday.
The Bottom Line
The answers to NYT Connections #569 from Tuesday, December 31, 2024, are MOVE QUICKLY (BOLT, DART, DASH, FLY), FUN TIME (BALL, BLAST, KICK, THRILL), WORDS BEFORE AN ADDRESSEE (ATTENTION, DEAR, FOR, TO), and NAME ___ (BRAND, DROP, GAME, NAMES).
Quick Recap
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