Looking for today's Connections answer for puzzle #546 on December 8, which is a little easier than yesterday's puzzle, the Connections Companion difficulty level is 3 out of 5.

We update our Connections clues and hints daily. And if the hints aren't enough, see the four answers below, along with category names and related words. In addition, for those of you reading this in a different time zone, I've included a discussion of puzzle #545 from yesterday.

There are spoilers for connection 546. Only those who want to know the answer to today's connection should read on.

Or see our NYT Connections How to Play Guide for tips on how to solve the puzzle without our help.

While today's wordle solution guide recommends the best wordle starting words as a strategy, the Connections solution depends on identifying the categories that are connected from the 16 words. The difficulty of each category is represented by a color, with yellow being the easiest grouping and purple the most difficult. Hints are helpful as the answer is displayed after four wrong guesses.

Today's connecting words are: sandwich, caterpillar, shoehorn, soul, slug, wrap, wedge, socks, puma, belta, mettle, pigeon, indie, greyhound, blow, squeeze.

If you need a hint to help you solve the groupings, here are each of the themes in order of difficulty:

These hints should at least give you an idea of how to find the answers to today's connections. If not, please continue reading for larger hints. Also, if you just want the answer, scroll down further.

There is a bigger clue. Today's puzzle has as many hooks as you would find in a boxing ring and as many hooks stuck in your head. Squeeze yourself and remember the big players in the concrete jungle.

Now, what's the answer to today's 546 connections?

Drum roll please.

Greyhound immediately caught my eye, and since there were no other words for dogs, I figured this category had to do with bus routes. Then I remembered that CAT, that big yellow construction machine, represents Caterpillar.

Next came the right hook and the yellow category with lots of punchy words like belt, blow, slug, and sock.

I then racked my brains to see what Mettle had to do with Seoul, but Sandwich, Squeeze, and Wedge were close enough synonyms, especially with Sock out of the running, and Shoehorn finally stood out and closed out the green category.

As a result, purple became indie, mettle, soul, and rap. I never seem to pick up a homophone clue or a clue that is missing a word or letter, and that was the case today. Wamp wamp.

Are you reading this late in the day? According to Connections Companion, the difficulty level was 3.7 out of 5.

Curiously, yesterday's difficult puzzle was a piece of cake, as it came after several days of easy puzzles in a row.

However, if you are not familiar with the WNBA and Liberty, Storm, Sun, and Wings, this one may be more difficult. I solved the blue group first.

As for fishing, flies and lures stood out. Bait and chum were easy to find from there as it pertains to fishing.

Yesterday I did not see a purple category, but luckily there were yellows for affiliate, associate, equate, and relate.

Thus, we finished purple with Longhorn, Longhorn Fellow (we assume you mean the author), Longhorn, and Longhorn Legs. I thought of Foghorn Leghorn, but this is my brain.