NYT Connections Answers January 1: Crack the Thursday puzzle #935 with these hints and solution

Spoilers ahead! You’ve been warned — seriously. Don’t read further unless you’re looking for hints or you’ve officially thrown in the towel and want today’s answers immediately. Below are all the hints, categories, and solutions for today’s NYT Connections puzzle #935, released on Thursday, January 1, 2026.

NYT Connections remains one of the New York Times’ most engaging daily word games. Today’s grid challenges players to uncover shared ideas and expressions hidden among 16 seemingly ordinary words. Some connections reveal themselves quickly, while others demand careful thought and pattern-spotting.

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What is NYT Connections?

Connections is a daily word puzzle created by the New York Times Games team. While the premise is straightforward, solving it can be deceptively difficult. Players must organize 16 words into four distinct groups of four, each linked by a common theme.

Each group is colour-coded based on difficulty:

Yellow – easiest

Green – moderate

Blue – challenging

Purple – the most abstract

Although multiple groupings may appear logical, only one exact combination solves the puzzle correctly.

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How do you play NYT Connections?

When the puzzle loads, players see a 4×4 grid of words. The goal is to select four words that share a clear connection and submit them as a group.

Correct groups are removed from the board and labeled by category

Incorrect groupings count as mistakes

Players can make up to four errors before the game ends

The grid can be shuffled to help uncover hidden relationships

Like Wordle, Connections refreshes daily at midnight and allows only one puzzle per day.

Your task is to recognize how the words relate and sort them into four groups of four.

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Difficulty levels in Connections

Each category is marked by colour to indicate how tricky it is:

Yellow – Easiest

Green – Medium

Blue – Hard

Purple – Trickiest

The game is available for free via the NYT Games app and the New York Times website.

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Hints for each Connections category (January 1, 2026)

Below are the hints, categories, and answers for today’s Connections puzzle #935, dated January 1, 2026, as per a report by Yahoo Tech and Jagran Josh.

Need a nudge without giving everything away? Here are the clues for each colour group in today’s puzzle:

Yellow Group Hint: A small supernatural trick — think wizarding skills
Green Group Hint: To strip away what’s on the surface
Blue Group Hint: A person deeply fixated on a subject
Purple Group Hint: A slippery partner — or a creamy ingredient often sold in sticks

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One word from each group

Here’s a single word from each category to guide you:

Yellow: Charm

Green: Shell

Blue: Head

Purple: Scotch

NYT Connections group names

If you’re ready for a bigger clue, here are the official category titles. Stop scrolling now if you want to avoid spoilers.

Yellow group: Bit of magic

Green group: Remove the covering from

Blue group: “Enthusiast” equivalent

Purple group: Butter ___

Final spoiler warning! The answers are directly below.

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NYT Connections answers for January 1, 2026 (Puzzle #935)

Here are the correct groupings for today’s puzzle. See how many you managed to solve:

YELLOW – Bit of magic
CHARM, CURSE, HEX, SPELL

GREEN – Remove the covering from
PEEL, SHELL, SHUCK, SKIN

BLUE – “Enthusiast” equivalent
BUFF, HEAD, HOUND, RAT

PURPLE – Butter ___
FINGERS, FLY, NUT, SCOTCH

FAQs

Is NYT Connections harder than Wordle?
Many players find Connections more challenging because it requires identifying abstract relationships rather than guessing a single word.

Can you replay old Connections puzzles?
At the moment, Connections offers one puzzle per day. Unlike Wordle’s archive, past Connections games are not officially replayable.