NYT Connections today — my hints and answers for Saturday, January 11 (game #580)

Good morning! Let’s play Connections, the NYT’s clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need clues.

What should you do once you’ve finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I’ve also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc’s Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #580) – today’s words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today’s NYT Connections words are…

CONVERSE
SUPREME
FOOD
NETWORK
SURFING
KANGAROO
TABLE
TENNIS
MATRIX
BREAKING
TRAMPOLINE
GRID
CIRCULATE
TAEKWONDO
ARRAY
MINGLE

NYT Connections today (game #580) – hint #1 – group hints

What are some clues for today’s NYT Connections groups?

YELLOW: Everything in its place
GREEN: Working the room 
BLUE: New gold medals 
PURPLE: See you in ….

Need more clues?

We’re firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today’s NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #580) – hint #2 – group answers

What are the answers for today’s NYT Connections groups?

YELLOW: DISPLAY OF ROWS AND COLUMNS 
GREEN: THINGS TO DO AT A WORK EVENT 
BLUE: OLYMPIC EVENTS SINCE 2000 
PURPLE: -_COURT 

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #580) – the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today’s Connections, game #580, are…

YELLOW: DISPLAY OF ROWS AND COLUMNS ARRAY, GRID, MATRIX, TABLE
GREEN: THINGS TO DO AT A WORK EVENT CIRCULATE, CONVERSE, MINGLE, NETWORK
BLUE: OLYMPIC EVENTS SINCE 2000 BREAKING, SURFING, TAEKWONDO, TRAMPOLINE
PURPLE: -_COURT FOOD, KANGAROO, SUPREME, TENNIS

My rating: Easy
My score: 1 mistake

Seeing SURFING and BREAKING, TABLE and TENNIS, and CONVERSE and SUPREME (two clothing brands) gave me a brief pause, but I managed to complete today’s puzzle in record time.

The only thing that slowed me down was the list of Olympic Events. Thinking it was about recently introduced sports I immediately clicked BREAKING, which was introduced at Paris 2024, and TAEKWONDO which debuted in Sydney. But I incorrectly chose TENNIS, which was actually one of the original Summer Olympics events from 1896 to 1924 before taking a 60-year break and returning in 1988.

Sadly, breaking won’t be part of the LA Games of 2028, joining a long list of discarded events including Tug-of-War, architecture, deer shooting and sculpture. Incredibly, American competitor Walter Winans was triumphant at both of the latter events, winning gold at London 1908 for shooting a running deer from 100 meters and at Paris 1912 for his horse figurine.

Yesterday’s NYT Connections answers (Friday, 10 January, game #579)

YELLOW: BE CONTINGENT (ON) DEPEND, HINGE, RELY, REST
GREEN: “CALM DOWN” CHILL, EASY, ENOUGH, RELAX
BLUE: INGREDIENTS IN AN OLD FASHIONED BITTERS, ORANGE, RYE, SUGAR
PURPLE: FEATURED IN THE MONTY HALL PROBLEM CAR, DOOR, GOAT, HOST

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don’t technically need to solve the final one, as you’ll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What’s more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It’s a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It’s playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.