Looking for today's Connections answer for puzzle #566 on December 28, much harder than yesterday's puzzle, this puzzle from the Connections Companion has a difficulty rating of 3.8 out of 5.

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

In addition, for those of you reading this in a different time zone, I have included a discussion of yesterday's puzzle #565.

There are spoilers for connection #566. Only those who want to know the answer to today's connection should read on.

Alternatively, 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: Minefield, Habit, Itsy, Hornets' Nest, Pandora's Box, Hersey, Piece of Cake, Aegis, Histamine, Sure Thing, Apple of Discord, Tires, Easy, Golden Fleece, Can, No Sweat

If you need hints on how to solve the groupings, here are each theme in order of difficulty:

Read these hints and you should at least find the answer to today's connection You should be able to. If not, please continue reading for larger hints. Also, if you only want the answer, scroll down further.

There is a bigger clue. Do your own legwork and make your own.

Now, what is the answer to the connection in today's game #566?

Drum roll please.

Today's puzzle seemed easy at first, and the yellow and green categories fit perfectly. No Sweat and Easy quickly led me to the easier one. The other, as mythical, immediately drew my attention to Golden Fleece and Apples of Discord.

When it came to “kicking proverbs” and “starting with possessive pronouns,” things got more difficult. After some shuffling, I found the section of proverbs to kick when I was lucky enough to get three next to each other. I put a tire in and it was the right one.

This left me with four purple ones, but I must admit that I didn't make that outside connection since there were only four left.

Are you reading this late in the day? According to Connections Companion, the difficulty level was 3.3 out of 5.

Yesterday was a complicated puzzle, but I solved yellow and green almost instantly (yellow first. Maybe I just wanted breakfast).

After the first two I wasted some guesses on the wrong tracks. I thought it was Washington, Phoenix, or some place in Africa, which was obviously where they wanted me to go.

Eventually, with one guess left, I connected Bugler, Africa, and Unicorn as musical places and things. It was impossible, but it was all I could find. I threw in a car completely off the top of my head and it worked. From there it was just a matter of putting the last four together, because there were no other options.

I solved today's puzzle, but I didn't feel like I won because I didn't actually connect the horns, I just got lucky. I just got lucky.