Looking for today's Connections answer for puzzle #547 on December 9, a little easier than yesterday's puzzle, this puzzle from Connections Companion has a difficulty rating of 2.6 out of 5.

We update our Connections clues and hints daily. And if the hints are not enough for you, see the four answers below, along with the category name and related words.

In addition, for those of you reading this in another time zone, I have included a reflection on yesterday's puzzle, #546.

There are spoilers for Connections #547. Only those who want to know the answer to today's Connections 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: Ray, Factor, Lighter, Stain, Microscope, Games, Consideration, Magnifying Glass, Reflection, Matches, Slide, Thought,. Flint, Files, Scrutiny, Specimen.

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

These hints should at least help you find the answer to today's connection. If not, please continue reading for larger hints. Also, if you just want the answer, scroll down further.

There is a bigger clue: ruminate, immerse yourself, and dig up memories of dissecting frogs in school. And while you're at it, review the alphabet.

Now, what's the answer to today's game #547, Connections?

Drum roll, please.

Starting things off in the easiest category always makes things harder here, but it didn't take much, if any, scrutiny to realize that this word is connected to “consideration,” “reflection,” and “thought.”

Next came the green categories of “flint,” “lighter,” “magnifying glass,” and “matches.” Or in my case, if I had watched enough horror movies about getting lost in the woods to know everything I needed to make a fire (and to do so at my own risk, because, after all, there is a 90% chance that a monster will find me).

Half-remembering what I learned in high school biology class, I struck out several times trying to connect “microscope” and “slide” with other clues. However, the scientific line made me think of X-rays, and I realized that Factor, Files, Games, and Ray all take on new meaning when preceded by an X. I had the microscope, the slides, and the specimens, but all I was missing was the stein.

It is much later in the day when you read this. According to the Connections Companion, the difficulty level was 3 out of 5.

Greyhound immediately caught my eye, and since there were no other words associated with dogs, I figured this category had something to do with bus routes. Then I remembered that that big yellow construction machine, CAT, represented Caterpillar, and the blue category was complete.

Next came the yellow category with a right hook and lots of punchy words like Belt, Blow, Slug, and Sock.

I was then left scratching my head as to what Mettle had to do with Seoul, but Sandwich, Squeeze, and Wedge were close enough synonyms, and Soehoorn finally caught my eye, especially with Sock out of the occasion, and the green category Closing.

As a result, purple remained as a memorization fill for indie, metre, soul, and rap. I never seem to be able to pick up homophonic clues or clues that are missing words or letters, and this puzzle was no different. Wamp wamp.