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A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11The Monday, December 16 Connections puzzle is the December 16, 2024 edition; December 16, 2025 fell on a Tuesday. The four groups are types of radio, kinds of play fights, snack cakes, and classic joke staples. Full hints and answers follow, so stop before the answer sections if you are still solving.
Why this puzzle is dated December 16, 2024
The requested Monday puzzle matches December 16, 2024. Connections publishes a new puzzle at midnight each day. Each game presents 16 words that must be sorted into four groups of four, playable on the New York Times website or in the Games app.
The 16 words in the grid
| Word | Word | Word | Word |
|---|---|---|---|
| LIGHT BULB | SNOWBALL | HAM | CHICKEN |
| PILLOW | YODEL | BAR | FOOD |
| KNOCK-KNOCK | WALKIE-TALKIE | DING DONG | WATER BALLOON |
| SATELLITE | DEVIL DOG | AM | HOHO |
Hints for each Connections category
Yellow hint
Think of different kinds of radio, including broadcast, amateur, satellite and short-range communication.
Green hint
These are “weapons” only in playful fights, such as the kind children might have indoors or outdoors.
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Blue hint
Look for names associated with individually packaged sweet snack cakes sold at convenience stores.
Purple hint
These words commonly appear in the setups or punchlines of familiar joke formats.
Connections answers for December 16, 2024
Yellow: Types of radio
- AM
- HAM
- SATELLITE
- WALKIE-TALKIE
The group mixes radio terminology with devices and services used to communicate by radio. “Ham” refers to amateur radio, while AM is a broadcast mode; satellite radio and walkie-talkies complete the set.
Green: Kinds of play fights
- FOOD
- PILLOW
- SNOWBALL
- WATER BALLOON
Each word can precede “fight.” Food fights and pillow fights are familiar indoor examples; snowball and water-balloon fights are seasonal or outdoor variations.
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Blue: Snack cakes
- DEVIL DOG
- DING DONG
- HOHO
- YODEL
These are Hostess-style snack-cake names. Their ordinary-sounding words make this category easy to overlook until the brand vocabulary becomes apparent.
Purple: Classic joke staples
- BAR
- CHICKEN
- KNOCK-KNOCK
- LIGHT BULB
These words evoke standard joke setups: someone walks into a bar, a chicken crosses the road, a knock-knock exchange begins, or a light-bulb joke asks how many people are needed to change one.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What makes the grouping tricky
The puzzle deliberately uses everyday nouns that support more than one interpretation. “Food,” “pillow,” “snowball” and “water balloon” become a clear set only when “fight” is supplied. Likewise, the snack-cake names look like unrelated objects or sounds until they are read as product names. The radio category also combines a broadcast term, an amateur-radio label, a satellite service and a handheld communication device rather than four words from one narrow technical vocabulary.
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