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NYT Connections puzzle No. 559 was published on Saturday, December 21, 2024. If you’re looking for that puzzle—not the different puzzle from December 21, 2025—start with the spoiler-safe clues below, then reveal the category names and full word groups only if you need them.
Word bank for Connections No. 559
Check the 16 words before reading further: BAND, SLEIGH, BALONEY, PAN, BUNK, GROUCH, CIRCLE, CANOPY, CROCK, O, STATUETTE, POT, RING, MURPHY, CASSEROLE, HOOP.
Hints for December 21, 2024
These clues move from the more direct group toward the trickiest connection. Stop at any point if you want to keep solving.
- Yellow: Circumference
- Green: Bake off
- Blue: Sleepy?
- Purple: What Academy and Wilde have in common
Category names
Spoilers begin here.
- Yellow: LOOP
- Green: COOKING VESSELS
- Blue: KINDS OF BEDS
- Purple: THINGS CALLED “OSCAR”
Full Connections answers
The complete groupings are:
- Yellow — LOOP: BAND, CIRCLE, HOOP, RING.
- Green — COOKING VESSELS: CASSEROLE, CROCK, PAN, POT.
- Blue — KINDS OF BEDS: BUNK, CANOPY, MURPHY, SLEIGH.
- Purple — THINGS CALLED “OSCAR”: BALONEY, GROUCH, O, STATUETTE.
Why the Oscar group works
Each purple entry points to something called Oscar: Oscar Mayer is associated with baloney, Oscar the Grouch is a character, O is the letter’s name, and an Oscar is a statuette awarded by the Academy. The Academy clue refers to the Academy Awards; Wilde points to Oscar Wilde.
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How Connections works
Connections presents 16 words and asks you to sort them into four groups of four based on a shared link. Some links are direct, such as a related shape or type of object; others depend on wordplay or an unexpected name association. Plausible overlaps can be red herrings. The game allows up to four mistakes, so it can help to identify a few likely members and then test which remaining words complete the set. Its colors indicate difficulty, with yellow the easiest and purple the trickiest.
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