NYT Connections puzzle #573, dated Saturday, January 4, 2025, groups its 16 words into four categories: compacting something, fasteners, marks that show completion, and imagery from Salvador Dalí’s The Persistence of Memory. Stop after the hints if you want to solve it yourself; the full answers follow below.
Today’s Connections word bank
The reported words for puzzle #573 are:
CHECK, CLOCK, CRUMPLE, CROSS, HOOK, TICK, BUCKLE, ANT, BALL, STRIKE, MELTING, WAD, SNAP, SCRUNCH, BRANCH, CLIP
The date and puzzle number are identified in Parade’s January 4, 2025 answer page and corroborated by Yahoo Entertainment and the Connection Hints archive.
Hints for January 4, 2025
Try to find the connections before reading the solution:
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- One group is about compressing something into a smaller form.
- Another group consists of things that hold or join items.
- One set of words can each describe marking an item as completed.
- The last group points to imagery in a famous Salvador Dalí painting.
Spoilers: the four category answers
The following are the reported groups for Connections #573, supported by Yahoo Entertainment and WordHint.
| Color | Category | Words |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow | Crush into a compact shape | BALL, CRUMPLE, SCRUNCH, WAD |
| Green | Fasteners | BUCKLE, CLIP, HOOK, SNAP |
| Blue | Mark as completed | CHECK, CROSS, STRIKE, TICK |
| Purple | Depicted in Dalí’s The Persistence of Memory | ANT, BRANCH, CLOCK, MELTING |
Why the words fit
Yellow: Crush into a compact shape
BALL, CRUMPLE, SCRUNCH and WAD can each describe squeezing or compressing something into a smaller shape.
Rank #2
Green: Fasteners
BUCKLE, CLIP, HOOK and SNAP are all words for fasteners.
Blue: Mark as completed
CHECK, CROSS, STRIKE and TICK can each refer to marking an item as done.
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ANT, BRANCH, CLOCK and MELTING point to imagery associated with Salvador Dalí’s The Persistence of Memory.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How this answer is identified
This is a historical puzzle, not a reference to a January 4 puzzle from another year: the cited answer pages identify it as game #573 on Saturday, January 4, 2025. These are reported answers cross-checked across answer pages and an archive; an accessible primary NYT record for this exact grid is not established by those sources.
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