Looking for today's Connections answer, the difficulty level for puzzle #557 on December 19 is the same as yesterday, and the difficulty level for the Connections companion is 3.3 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 another time zone, I have included a reflection on yesterday's puzzle, #556.

There are spoilers for connection 557. 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 connection words are: Tap, Tug, Keg, Barrel, Table, Sub, Barge, Hammer, Counter, Ladder, Gorilla, Shelve.

If you need a hint to help you solve the groupings, here are each theme 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 only want to know the answer, scroll down further.

Here's a bigger clue: Play Donkey Keg, pour beer, and make way for the boat.

Now, what's the answer to today's game #557, Connection?

Drum roll please.

Three more to get you through the week.

For starters, the first thing that came to mind when I saw “junk” was a Chinese flat-bottomed sailing “boat”. The tugboat and submarine jumped out of there and next we had to locate the barge. Fortunately, the last three boats were right next to each other.

I saw the yellow category and removed most of it so as not to disturb it. This included DELAY, POST POST, SHELVE, and TABLE.

My first thought was something about barrels and barrels, but that didn't work. From there I got to hammers and ladders.

That left the bar fixtures: counter, kegs, stools, and faucets.

Are you reading this late in the day? According to the Connections Companion, this is the Connections solution to game #556, which had a difficulty score of 3.3 out of 5.

Interestingly, the difficulty level is only 3 so far this week. It is rare to have a week with puzzles of similar difficulty.

For me, I saw the bock and learned that there are beer groupings in this puzzle. Stouts and sours are more obvious. American breweries are so preoccupied with IPAs, which tend to be bitter at all levels, that they tend to forget about English-style bitter beers.

Going with the flow, I saw handle and manage; Field and Tackle fit here, but they feel like afterthoughts rather than direct synonyms, but they also make sense as a yellow group compared to the other three categories.

From there, I was looking at hedging and thinking about stocks to hold, short, or trade.

We concluded with domes, including two architectural domes (Capitol and Onion), Scandal (Teapot), and Nickname or Cold War-era operations run by the US Air Force (Chrome Dome).