Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers for Dec. 6 #909

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Today’s NYT Connections puzzle has about the wildest purple category I have ever seen. There’s a word in the description that I can figure out, but that I don’t think I’ve ever heard before. If you need help sorting the answers into groups, you’re in the right place. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Not unusual.

Green group hint: Soothe.

Blue group hint: Movie time.

Purple group hint: Some are pets.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Norm.

Green group: Mollify.

Blue group: Member of a titular group in an animation franchise.

Purple group: Starting with herpetofauna. (Reptiles and amphibians.)

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is norm. The four answers are average, mean, par and standard.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is mollify. The four answers are cool, moderate, settle and temper.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is member of a titular group in an animation franchise. The four answers are car, incredible, minion and monster.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is starting with herpetofauna. The four answers are Adderall (adder), monitorship (monitor), newton (newt) and toady (toad).

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Toughest Connections puzzles

We’ve made a note of some of the toughest Connections puzzles so far. Maybe they’ll help you see patterns in future puzzles.

#5: Included “things you can set,” such as mood, record, table and volleyball.

#4: Included “one in a dozen,” such as egg, juror, month and rose.

#3: Included “streets on screen,” such as Elm, Fear, Jump and Sesame.

#2: Included “power ___” such as nap, plant, Ranger and trip.

#1: Included “things that can run,” such as candidate, faucet, mascara and nose.