NYT 'Connections' December 2 Hints & Answers Revealed

Welcome to the beginning of a fresh week! I believe one of the greatest joys about this time of year is having an excuse to indulge in some chocolate in the morning after opening the advent calendar window for that day. As a child, I would sometimes delay opening it for a few days to have an extra chocolate treat. If only I had understood the principles behind saving and investing at an early age, along with concepts like compound interest, I would be in a much better financial situation now!

Unlock the Secrets of Sunday's Connections with Us!

How To Play Connections

Connections is a free and highly popular New York Times daily word game. Every day at midnight, a new puzzle becomes available. You can play it on the NYT website or through the Games app.You are presented with a grid of 16 words. Your mission is to group them into four sets of four by identifying the connections between them. The groups could be based on items you can click, names for research study participants, or words preceded by a body part.There is only one correct solution for each puzzle, and you need to be cautious as some words may fit into multiple categories. You can shuffle the words to help you spot the links more easily.Each group is color-coded. The yellow group is typically the easiest to figure out, followed by the blue and green groups, while the purple group is usually the most challenging as it often involves wordplay.Select four words you think belong together and press Submit. If your guess is incorrect, you will lose a life. If you are close to having a correct group, you might receive a message indicating that you are one word away from getting it right, but you still need to determine which word to swap.If you make four mistakes, the game is over. Let's avoid that by using some hints and, if needed, today's Connections answers. Just like in Wordle and other similar games, it's easy to share your results with friends on social media and group chats.If you have an NYT All Access or Games subscription, you can access the publication's Connections archive. This includes every previous game of Connections, so you can go back and play any of the ones you missed.Aside from the first 60 games or so, you can find my hints for each grid via Google by simply clicking here and adding the date of the game for which you need clues or the answers to the search query.

What Are Today's Connections Hints?

Scroll slowly! Just after the hints for each of today's Connections groups, I will reveal what the groups are without immediately telling you which words go into them.Today's 16 words are…TRUMPETCROQUETCROCODILEPAPERALLIGATORHAIRWHAC-A-MOLEHERALDPOLO PLAYERBROADCASTLAURELXYLOPHONECARPENTRYVIDEOSWOOSHDECLAREAnd the hints for today's Connections groups are:Yellow group — expressGreen group — related to an object with a long handle and a barrel-shaped endBlue group — fashion symbolsPurple group — associated with a word meaning to strike. Alternatively, a measure of speed or an example of one's written work

What Are Today's Connections Groups?

Need some extra assistance?Be warned: we are entering spoiler territory.Today's Connections groups are…Yellow group — make knownGreen group — things involving hammersBlue group — emblem on a polo shirtPurple group — ____ fastener

What Are Today's Connections Answers?

Spoiler alert! Do not scroll any further down the page until you are ready to find out today's Connections answers.This is your final warning!Today's Connections answers are…Yellow group — make known (BROADCAST, DECLARE, HERALD, TRUMPET)Green group — things involving hammers (CARPENTRY, CROQUET, WHAC-A-MOLE, XYLOPHONE)Blue group — emblem on a polo shirt (CROCODILE, LAUREL, POLO PLAYER, SWOOSH)Purple group — ____ fastener (ALLIGATOR, HAIR, PAPER, VIDEO)During today's game, I made some silly errors. I initially thought that POLO PLAYER (Ralph Lauren) indicated a group of fashion logos. I guessed that along with ALLIGATOR, LAUREL (Fred Perry) and SWOOSH (Nike), but I was one word away from the correct group. I mistakenly thought the Lacoste logo was an ALLIGATOR instead of a CROCODILE. That took care of the blues. Interestingly, I am wearing a Nike workout T-shirt as I write this.I then made a foolish mistake by including TRUMPET with WHAC-A-MOLE, CROQUET and XYLOPHONE instead of CARPENTRY. I apologize for that.The yellows were obvious on the smaller grid, but since I always aim to clear the purple group as early as possible, I submitted those first. Or at least I tried to. I accidentally included BROADCAST instead of ALLIGATOR. Oops!I wasn't sure what an alligator clip was offhand, but I deduced the purple connection otherwise (clip has so many meanings!). As it turns out, an alligator clip is sometimes called a crocodile clip. I wonder how many people will get confused by that today…That concludes today's Connections clues and answers. Be sure to check my blog for hints and the solution for Tuesday's game if you need them.P.S. I have had a deep affection for The Darkness since I was a child. For over 20 years, I have spent a lot of money playing their debut album on the jukebox at my student union's pool hall. An annual tradition for me is to use their Christmas song as my ringtone for the entire month of December.Twenty-one years later, I still feel a bit disappointed that it was edged out of the number one spot in the Christmas singles chart (a strangely significant thing in the U.K.) by Michael Andrews' and Gary Jules' excellent cover of Tears for Fears' "Mad World." But "Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)" — and the subtly humorous title — will always hold a special place in my heart:Have a great day!If you are interested, please do follow my blog for more coverage of Connections and other word games, as well as some video game news, insights and analysis. It means a lot to me! Also, follow me on Bluesky! It's a lot of fun.