NYT Connections #580 was published on Saturday, January 11, 2025. Use the progressively more specific hints below before scrolling to the full answer reveal. The biggest traps are the Olympic-sports group and the tempting connection between TENNIS and COURT.
Spoiler warning: The hints below are arranged from least to most specific. Stop before the answer section if you are still solving NYT Connections #580.
Hints for Connections #580 on January 11, 2025
Yellow hint
Think of different ways to describe a rectangular arrangement of information.
Green hint
These are things you might do while socializing or making professional contacts at a workplace gathering.
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Blue hint
Look for sports or events that entered the Olympic program in 2000 or later.
Purple hint
Each answer can be paired with the word “court.”
Connections #580 answers for January 11
Here are the four completed groups. The puzzle was published on Saturday, January 11, 2025, and was puzzle number #580.
Yellow: Display of rows and columns
ARRAY, GRID, MATRIX, TABLE
All four words can describe an organized arrangement of information or objects, commonly laid out in rows and columns. The connection is semantic rather than tied to one particular spreadsheet or software program.
Green: Things to do at a work event
CIRCULATE, CONVERSE, MINGLE, NETWORK
These verbs describe socializing at a workplace event. NETWORK is the most specifically professional term, while CIRCULATE, CONVERSE, and MINGLE refer more generally to moving around and talking with other attendees.
Blue: Olympic events since 2000
BREAKING, SURFING, TAEKWONDO, TRAMPOLINE
This is the puzzle’s intended group of sports or events added to, or newly represented in, the modern Summer Olympic program from 2000 onward. Taekwondo and trampoline gymnastics were part of the Sydney 2000 Games; surfing arrived at Tokyo 2020; and breaking debuted at Paris 2024.
The wording can be slightly misleading because TENNIS has also been an Olympic sport during the period since 2000. In this puzzle, however, tennis is not meant to represent a sport newly added in that period: it returned to the Olympics in 1988. That makes it the leftover answer for the “___ court” group.
Purple: ___ court
FOOD, KANGAROO, SUPREME, TENNIS
Complete the familiar expressions with COURT: food court, kangaroo court, Supreme Court, and tennis court. SUPREME COURT is the proper-name phrase, while the other three are common noun phrases.
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The yellow group is the cleanest starting point. ARRAY, GRID, MATRIX, and TABLE all point toward structured rows and columns, leaving little room for a competing interpretation.
The green group is also fairly cohesive once the workplace context becomes apparent. NETWORK can initially look like a technology or communications term, but it fits naturally beside the three other social-interaction verbs.
The blue group creates the biggest conceptual hurdle. Several remaining words suggest sports, but TENNIS is a particularly tempting Olympic decoy. It also appears to fit “tennis court,” which can make the final purple group seem impossible until the Olympic-era distinction is recognized.
The purple category is deceptive for the same reason: both TENNIS and SUPREME form very familiar phrases with COURT. The less obvious combinations—FOOD COURT and KANGAROO COURT—complete the set.
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A practical solving route
- Remove the obvious format words. Start with ARRAY, GRID, MATRIX, and TABLE.
- Look for a social context. CIRCULATE, CONVERSE, MINGLE, and NETWORK describe what people do at a work gathering.
- Group the Olympic-related terms. BREAKING, SURFING, TAEKWONDO, and TRAMPOLINE are the remaining sports and events connected to Olympic additions from 2000 onward.
- Use the final four as phrase completions. FOOD, KANGAROO, SUPREME, and TENNIS each pair with COURT.
This elimination method is especially useful in Connections puzzles where one word has a strong but misleading association. Here, assigning TENNIS too early to the court group can distract from the intended Olympic category.
What is NYT Connections?
Connections is a New York Times word game in which you sort 16 words into four groups of four. Each group has a shared connection, but some words are deliberately chosen to appear to fit more than one category.
The categories are commonly presented using four difficulty colors: yellow, green, blue, and purple. Yellow is generally the most straightforward, while purple is usually the most difficult. Players can access the game through the NYT Games experience on NYTimes.com, The Athletic, and the NYT News App, and completed puzzles contribute to player statistics.
Want more puzzles after Connections #580?
Readers who enjoy the category-matching format can look for a New York Times Connections puzzle book or the related Puzzle Mania! collection. It includes offline versions or treatments of several New York Times Games, including Connections, but it should not be confused with a book containing the specific January 11, 2025 puzzle or its answers.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the answers to NYT Connections #580?
The four Connections #580 groups are: Yellow—ARRAY, GRID, MATRIX, TABLE; Green—CIRCULATE, CONVERSE, MINGLE, NETWORK; Blue—BREAKING, SURFING, TAEKWONDO, TRAMPOLINE; Purple—FOOD, KANGAROO, SUPREME, TENNIS.
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Why isn’t TENNIS in the Olympic category?
The puzzle’s intended blue category is sports or events added to, or newly represented in, the Summer Olympics from 2000 onward. Taekwondo and trampoline were in Sydney 2000, surfing was introduced at Tokyo 2020, and breaking debuted at Paris 2024. Tennis returned to the Olympics in 1988, so it was reserved for the purple category.
What is the purple category in Connections #580?
The purple answers form food court, kangaroo court, Supreme Court, and tennis court.
The Bottom Line
The answers to NYT Connections #580, published January 11, 2025, are ARRAY, GRID, MATRIX, TABLE; CIRCULATE, CONVERSE, MINGLE, NETWORK; BREAKING, SURFING, TAEKWONDO, TRAMPOLINE; and FOOD, KANGAROO, SUPREME, TENNIS. The main trap is TENNIS: it belongs with the “___ court” phrases here, while the blue group is intended to represent Olympic additions from 2000 onward.
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