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NYT Connections hint and answers for Monday, 20th Jan

Need some Connections hints for today? Read our guide for help with Connections #588.

An abstract image with an altered Connections logo in the centre, surrounded by circles connected by webbed lines.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/NYT
Jeremy Blum avatar
Guide by Jeremy Blum Guides Writer
Published on

This guide is for a previous day! Looking for today's? Check out the Connections hint for Wednesday 22nd January!

Need a hint for today's Connections on Monday, 20th January? If you've got a bad case of the Mondays, maybe you need a little Connections to spice up your life. Depending on how easy the puzzle is, it just might make your day!

Alas, Connections puzzles are often harder than one might expect...but that's where we come in. Below, you'll find our handy collection of Connections hints, along with detailed sections revealing all of the groups in today's puzzle.

In this guide:

Here are the 16 Connections words for today:

Cookie Bear Spinach Shoulder
Crook Anchor Elbow Cheat
Pipe Handle Bend Forearm
Fitted Angle Assume Balance

How to play Connections

Connections is one of the most popular (and challenging) daily puzzle games published by the New York Times (owners of Wordle). The aim of Connections is to group the 16 words of the day into four groups, where each group of four words has a common theme.

For instance, the words "Hook", "Nana", "Peter", and "Wendy" are all Peter Pan characters. Or to take another example, "Action", "Ballpark", "Go", and "Stick" are all words which commonly come just before the word "Figure".

Your job is to figure out what these themes are that connect the various words together - but be wary, because a lot of the time there are deceptive red herring connections placed purely to throw you off! To win the game, you have to find all four Connections without making 4 mistakes. On your fourth mistake, the game is over and the answer is revealed automatically.

Each of the four groups in each day's Connections puzzle is also assigned a different colour, which represents how easy or difficult the Connection is to find. These colours are: Yellow (Easiest), Green (Easy), Blue (Medium), and Purple (Hardest).

Connections hint for Monday 20th January

Here are your Connections hints for today:

  • Yellow: Different verbs to describe being accountable.
  • Green: Alternate words for edges, or objects with an edge to them.
  • Blue: Think of a famous cartoon sailor.
  • Purple: All of these words can be paired with a word synonymous with both page and linen.
  • Extra hint 1: Bear does not refer to the animal.
  • Extra hint 2: Balance and Fitted are in the same group

If you need a bit more help, tap the spoiler text below to reveal one word belonging to each group:

  • Yellow: Bear
  • Green: Bend
  • Blue: Forearm
  • Purple: Cookie
Spoiler warning! Today's Connections groups are revealed just below!

What are today's Connections groups?

If you need an even bigger clue to figure out today's Connections puzzle, below we'll reveal the four correct Connections groups - the themes which link together each set of four words in the Connections grid.

Here are the Connections groups for today:

  • Yellow: Take On, As A Responsibility
  • Green: Corners
  • Blue: Associated With Popeye
  • Purple: ___ Sheet

Now that you know the themes for the various different Connections in today's puzzle, see if you can solve it! If not, check below for the full answer.

Spoiler warning! Today's Connections answer lies ahead!

What is today's Connections answer?

Here is the answer to today's Connections puzzle on Monday, 20th January:

  • Yellow: Take On, As A Responsibility (Assume, Bear, Handle, Shoulder)
  • Green: Corners (Angle, Bend, Crook, Elbow)
  • Blue: Associated With Popeye (Anchor, Forearm, Pipe, Spinach)
  • Purple: ___ Sheet (Balance, Cheat, Cookie, Fitted)
A screenshot showing the answers to the Connections puzzle for Januay 20.
Here are your answers for January 20's Connections. | Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/NYT

Today's Connections was a mixed bag for me. I got the Yellow and Green groups easily enough, though I was slightly caught off-guard by "Bear," because naturally my first thought was the animal, rather than the verb.

Then Popeye came along! I recently visited the Popeye Village in Malta (if you haven't been before and like the 1980 Popeye movie starring a very young Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall, then I recommend it), so these words came to me instantly. I had initially grouped "Cookie" and "Spinach" together in my head, thinking that one of the categories was food-related, but the presence of other Popeye mainstays like "Forearm" and "Pipe" put me on the right track.

Finally, the Sheet words in the Purple group confounded me for a while. I put two-and-two together when I realised that Cookie Sheet and Fitted Sheet are both valid phrases, but it took some time.

Congratulations if you got today's Connections answer right, with or without the help of our handy hints above! And if you didn't succeed today, don't worry - a new Connections puzzle is released every day at midnight, so you can try again tomorrow, just like with Wordle!

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