Happy Monday, puzzle lovers! We’re back with another round of tips and solutions for the latest New York Times Connections puzzle.

After widespread success Wordle—the game that won the hearts of millions and subsequently won them The New York Times at the beginning of 2022 – the newspaper presented a new puzzle, Connectionin the year 2023. The word game quickly became a favorite among puzzle enthusiasts, with fans around the world eager to share their daily progress and strategies on social media.

Connection can be quite the conundrum, but sometimes a little help is all it takes to get over that tricky hump. If you’re looking for a clue or two, you’ve come to the right place. We have Monday’s answers at the end of this article, so scroll carefully if you’d rather tackle this on its own.

How to play Connection

every day Connection offers players a grid of 16 words. Your goal is to group them into four sets of four based on common themes or characteristics.

These groups are color-coded by difficulty level: yellow (easiest), green, blue, and purple (hardest). When you correctly identify a group, those words will be highlighted and removed from the grid. The matching color will reveal how challenging the group was meant to be.

You can make a maximum of four wrong guesses before the game ends, so choose carefully! There’s no time limit, so take your time and consider shuffling the board if you’re stuck—sometimes a new perspective can help you discover connections more easily.

Connection editor Wyna Liu suggests that if you find five words that might fit into a category, it’s often best to try categorizing another group first. This strategy can help you figure out where words really belong through a process of elimination.

Connection #554 Clues for Monday December 16th

• Yellow: From waves to orbit, always transmitting
• Green: To shed, but never seriously
• Blue: Happiness in every package
• Purple: Setup openers that always deliver

Connection #554 Answers for Monday, December 16

• Yellow Category: Radio Types
• Yellow words: AM, Ham, Satellite, Walkie-Talkie

• Green category: Types of game combat
• Green words: food, pillow, snowball, water balloon

• Blue Category: Snack Cakes
• Blue Words: Devil Dog, Ding Dong, Hoho, Yodel

• Purple Category: Classic Funny Clips
• Purple words: Bar, Chicken, Knock-Knock, Bulb