Each day’s game of NYT Connections goes live at midnight local time. Before today’s NYT Connections hints, here’s what you missed on Sunday:
Hey there, Connectors! It’s lovely to be back with you for another Monday-Friday run of this column right here. It was an eventful weekend to say the least. All I can really say here is I hope you’re taking care of yourselves, your loved ones and your neighbors.
It’s Monday, and that means we get things started with a fun, upbeat song. This has nothing to do with the game of Connections. I just want to do what I can to help you start the week in as positive a mood as possible. If the song gets you singing and dancing a bit, even better!
Let’s go with a live version of an absolute classic, because Franz Ferdinand very much still do have it. I’ve seen them live many times, including on a couple of occasions over the last few years, and they always put on a fantastic show. So I was very happy to see them pop up on the latest edition of Aussie radio station Triple J’s Like a Version series, where the guest artist plays a cover and one of their own songs.
The band covered an Amyl and the Sniffers track and did a grand job with it. But when it came to their own song, they opted to play their best-known tune, the brilliant “Take Me Out.” It sounds as good as ever here, so please dance and sing away:
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(By the way, I offer up a recommendation – usually a song – at the end of the column every day. That one’s all me, so I’m happy to take requests or suggestions for the Monday opening tune! Let’s make this more of a fun, communal thing.)
Before we start, I want to mention the great community we have on Discord, where we chat about Connections, the rest of the NYT games and all kinds of other stuff. It’s a lovely, welcoming group of folks. I like to call it our cozy little corner of the internet. You’re more than welcome to join us. Don’t be shy!
Today’s NYT Connections hints and answers for Monday, January 26 are coming right up. Let’s get rolling!
NYT Connections – How To Play
Connections is a free New York Times daily word game that you can play on the NYT’s website or Games app. If you have an NYT All Access or Games subscription, you can access the Connections archive, which includes every previous game.
Connections presents you with a grid of 16 words (sometimes phrases, symbols or numbers). The aim is to arrange them into four groups of four. You don’t know how they hit together or what the category for each group is: that’s what you have to figure out.
There’s only one correct solution and there are often red herrings. You can guess incorrectly three times. A fourth wrong guess, and it’s game over.
Each group is color coded. The yellow group is usually the easiest to deduce, followed by blue, green and purple. Often, the yellow and green groups have synonyms, the blues have cultural references and the purples have some kind of wordplay involved. But this is not a hard and fast rule. Be ready for curveballs – part of the fun of Connections is in how the NYT shakes things up to keep you on your toes.
As with Wordle and similar games, it’s easy to share results with your friends using an emoji-based grid. The game tracks your progress too.
Many players take pride in having long win streaks or getting a reverse rainbow – correctly guessing the purple, blue, green and yellow groups in that order with no mistakes. That adds an extra little challenge.
NYT Connections Hints – Today’s Word List
Scroll slowly! I’ll first give you a list of today’s words, then a hint for each category. After that, I’ll reveal one word that goes into each group. Then I’ll tell you the category names, followed by the full answers.
Today’s 16 words are…
- FOSTER
- COW
- BADGE
- MILK
- RABBI
- RATTLE
- FIELD
- MOOS
- SQUEEZE
- CLOSE
- RUFFLE
- FLEECE
- WEAVER
- DRAIN
- GOA
- BUFFALO
NYT Connections Hints
And the hints for today’s Connections groups are:
- 🟨 Yellow group — extract valuable resources or information
- 🟩 Green group — unnerve someone, cause them to be apprehensive or aversive
- 🟦 Blue group — like davis (three of them, actually), moore and kelly
- 🟪 Purple group — we ain’t nothing but these, as The Bloodhound Gang famously once sang, but these particular ones are smaller than usual
NYT Connections Hints – One Answer Per Group
Need some extra help?
Be warned: we’re starting to get into spoiler territory.
Let’s take a look at one answer for each group.
Here we go…
- 🟨 Yellow group — MILK
- 🟩 Green group — RUFFLE
- 🟦 Blue group — WEAVER
- 🟪 Purple group — BADGE
NYT Connections Hints – Groups/Categories
Today’s Connections groups are…
- 🟨 Yellow group — exploit
- 🟩 Green group — daunt
- 🟦 Blue group — iconic actresses
- 🟪 Purple group — mammals minus last letter
NYT Connections Answers
Spoiler alert! Don’t scroll any further down the page until you’re ready to find out today’s Connections answers.
This is your last chance to look away.
This is your final warning!
Today’s Connections answers are…
- 🟨 Yellow group — exploit (DRAIN, FLEECE, MILK, SQUEEZE)
- 🟩 Green group — daunt (BUFFALO, COW, RATTLE, RUFFLE)
- 🟦 Blue group — iconic actresses (CLOSE, FIELD, FOSTER, WEAVER)
- 🟪 Purple group — mammals minus last letter (BADGE, GOA, MOOS, RABBI)
I was going to go for the group of actors first (Jodi FOSTER, Sally FIELD, Glenn CLOSE and Sigourney WEAVER), but GOA pulled me toward a group of animals that was missing the last letter. I was delighted to get the purples out of the gate thanks to BADGEr, GOAt, MOOSe and RABBIt.
The actors were up next and that got me the blues, putting me on track for my first reverse rainbow in months.
I clocked what I though might be the yellows (words meaning “to extract”), so tried the remaining words (i.e. “to unnerve”) in the hope that they’d be the greens. They were! So I got myself a reverse rainbow to extend my streak to 331 wins.
How did you get on today? Here’s my grid:
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟨🟨🟨🟨
That’s all there is to it for today’s Connections clues and answers. Be sure to check my blog tomorrow for hints and the solution for Tuesday’s game if you need them.
P.S. I was tempted to recommend The Bloodhound Gang’s very catchy “The Bad Touch,” given that I nodded to it in the purple clue (and because the video was filmed in Paris and I was just there). But it’s perhaps a little too risque for this particular publication.
So, let’s go with another song that’s been in my head for a few days.
I really like the new Harry Styles song! The lo-fi beats in “Aperture” sound like my guy spent a lot of time listening to The Postal Service while he was (allegedly) living in Berlin. No complaints from me. The video’s a bit of an odd one, but I dig that too:
Have a great day! Stay hydrated! Be kind to yourself and each other! Call someone you love!
Please follow my blog for more NYT Connections hints and help with other word games, and even some video game news, insights and analysis. It helps me out a lot! Sharing this column with other people who play Connections would be appreciated too. You can also read my weekend editions of this column at my newsletter, Pastimes.
