‘Connections’ January 9: Answers and Hints for Puzzle #578

Every game of daily word puzzle Connections comes with a difficulty rating out of five.

The game is published by The New York Times, which also posts the difficulty each day.

Some are more challenging than others, regardless of the rating, so Newsweek is here with playing tips and hints for today’s game to help you over the line.

How to Play ‘Connections’

The categories vary in difficulty from yellow to green to blue to purple, with yellow considered the easiest category and purple the trickiest.

For example, a recent game linked the words “Attention,” “Dear,” “For” and “To” under the category: “Words before an addressee.” This was a blue category.

Once you have selected four words, you click the “submit” button. If your choices match a category, they will appear in the category color and disappear from the grid. If they are incorrect, however, they will remain gray and stay on the board.

If you are stuck, try selecting the “shuffle” button to move the words to a different place on the grid.

Players have up to four chances to guess incorrectly before the game ends. There’s no time constraint, so no need to rush things.

“My top advice is to hold off on guessing as long as you can,” Wyna Liu, the game’s editor at The New York Times, previously told Newsweek.

Here are some hints to help you figure out today’s Connections categories, but scroll down with caution as the answers are below them.

‘Connections’ #578 Clues for Thursday, January 9

Yellow: Structures used when selling goods at an open shopping area.

Green: Instructions to give a canine.

Blue: Different working sections you would find at a company.

Purple: Final sounds you would hear in a patriotic American song.

‘Connections’ #578 Answers for Thursday, January 9

Yellow Category: VENDOR’S SPOT AT A MARKET

Yellow Words: Booth, Table, Stand, Stall

Green Category: DOG COMMANDS

Green Words: Sit, Stay, Heel, Come

Blue Category: CORPORATE DEPARTMENTS

Blue Words: Finance, IT, Sales, Legal

Purple Category: LAST WORDS IN “AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL”

Purple Words: Sea, Shining, From, To

Did you guess the answers correctly? If so, congratulations. If not, there will be another opportunity to crack the code tomorrow.

Connections is released at midnight in your local time zone and Newsweek will be back tomorrow with another round of hints and tips.

In the meantime, you could try your hand at Wordle—another popular game from The Times for which Newsweek also provides daily hints.