Today's Connections Hints & Answers For January 12, 2025 (Puzzle #581)

screenrant.com:

If you need an extra tip or two to finish today’s puzzle, you are in the right place. Today’s puzzle felt a little weird to me, not so difficult that it was impossible but tricky enough that I stared at it for a few minutes before getting anything right. There are a lot of potential problem spots, and some fun words as well to balance it out. Taken together, it makes for a challenging but amusing experience as you finish out the puzzle.

If you want to try a different type of word puzzle, you should check out the NYT’s puzzle. It is quite popular now, and it is even an essential part of solving other puzzles. In this puzzle, you will be attempting to complete a word.You get 6 chances to guess the right word, which will be hinted at based on what letters are left and which ones are in the right places. With enough hints, the word should be obvious if you have done everything right.

To finish off the puzzle, you will likely need a few hints. There’s one category that is extremely close to the first one but is not the real category. That makes it easy to waste guesses on, but harder to figure out what you are doing wrong. There are also some things that many people may not be aware of at this point, and a few things that all share something in common but are not in the same category. To help you sort that out, here are four clues:

The Letter Boxed game for the New York Times mobile app asks you to connect letters to form words while using various strategies to win quickly.

If you are still struggling to figure out the rest of the puzzle, you can use the category names to do so.

FABRICATION

WOO

CLASSIC ATARI GAMES

THINGS FEATURING TAILS

FABRICATION

FAIRY TALE

FANTASY

FICTION

INVENTION

This category is all about things that are made up, but whereas the word “fabrication” typically means lying in many contexts, it actually just means something that has been made. The other issue with this category is that 3 of the words are genres of literature, and ROMANCE is a