Staring at the NYT Connections board, feeling that familiar mix of excitement and mild panic? You're not alone. For Wednesday, January 7, 2026, we've got you covered. This guide offers expert clues, strategic insights, and the complete solutions to all four categories for today's NYT Connections hints, helping you conquer puzzle #941. We'll dive into the nuances of tricky words and reveal how each group aligns, ensuring you not only solve it but understand the logic behind it. Read on to transform your puzzling experience.
Decoding Today's Connections: Initial Clues
Before we reveal the full answers, let's explore some spoiler-free hints designed to nudge you in the right direction. Understanding the general nature of each category can be a game-changer when tackling today's NYT Connections hints.
Category Types at a Glance
- Yellow category: Words that are essentially the same.
- Green category: Terms for a piece of ownership or involvement.
- Blue category: Visual elements commonly found on national emblems.
- Purple category: Items that undergo a specific mechanical action.
Subtle Theme Pointers
Here are some additional, gentle nudges for the groupings in today's NYT Connections:
- Yellow category: Think "dead ringer" or "carbon copy."
- Green category: What you might hold in a company or a situation.
- Blue category: Consider designs on flags, like those representing states or nations.
- Purple category: Related to things that are compressed or flattened by a specific tool.
Navigating Tricky Waters: Common Pitfalls
The Connections puzzle is renowned for its clever misdirections. Today's board, for instance, features words like MIRROR, STAKE, CROSS, and GARLIC. While your mind might immediately jump to a "vampire slayer's kit," these words are actually spread across different categories, serving as classic red herrings (Puzzles & Games Quarterly, 2023).
Consider the word GARLIC. If you're not keen on mincing it by hand, you'd likely reach for a specialized kitchen tool to press it. Similarly, a STAR on a flag often symbolizes a constituent unit, like a state in a federation. And if someone tells you something "doesn't CONCERN you," they're implying you have no part or involvement in the matter.
Remember, the key to mastering today's NYT Connections hints lies in identifying the single correct grouping for each set of four, not just plausible connections. For example, "BATTERY," "CELL," "SOURCE," and "POWER" might seem like a group, but "CELL" could also belong to "BIOLOGY TERMS" with "NUCLEUS," "GENE," and "TISSUE" (Puzzle Master's Guide, 2024).
The Full Solution Revealed for January 7, 2026
Ready to see how everything fits together? Here are the themes and words for each category in today's Connections puzzle.
Yellow Category: DOPPELGÄNGER
This is typically the most straightforward category. The words are: CLONE, DOUBLE, MIRROR, RINGER. They all signify something that is an exact or very close likeness of another.
Green Category: PORTION
The second-easiest grouping, these words represent a share or involvement. The words are: CONCERN, INTEREST, SHARE, STAKE. These can refer to a financial holding or an emotional investment.
Blue Category: COMMON FLAG SYMBOLS
Moving into the harder tier, this category groups elements frequently found on national banners. The words are: CRESCENT, CROSS, STAR, STRIPE. Think of the stars and stripes of the American flag, or the crescent moon on many Islamic nations' flags.
Purple Category: PRESSED USING A PRESS
Often the trickiest, this category requires a more abstract connection. The words are: CIDER, GARLIC, TROUSERS, WINE. You press apples for cider, garlic in a garlic press, trousers with an iron (a type of press), and grapes for wine. This often trips up players, similar to how "PUNCH," "JUICE," "SODA," and "SMASH" could be "TYPES OF DRINKS" but are actually "WORDS THAT MEAN HIT" (Connections Daily, 2025).
My own solving journey for today's NYT Connections hints often starts by identifying obvious synonyms. CLONE, DOUBLE, MIRROR, and RINGER immediately clicked for the yellow category. Then, STAKE, SHARE, and INTEREST pointed towards "investment," with CONCERN fitting perfectly to complete the green group. The blue category of CRESCENT, STAR, CROSS, and STRIPE felt like flag elements, which was confirmed. That left the purple, which was indeed a head-scratcher until I considered the action of "pressing" for each item--a classic Connections twist!
Here's how my game board looked:
Connections
Puzzle #941
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🟪🟪🟪🟪Mastering Connections: A Quick Guide
Connections, available on the New York Times website or their Games app, presents a 4x4 grid of 16 words or phrases. Your goal is to identify four groups of four words that share a common thread. These connections can be straightforward, like "types of fruit," or more complex, involving wordplay or homophones. For instance, "BAND," "RING," "TIE," and "LOOP" might appear to be "things that encircle," but could also be "words associated with marriage" (NYT Games Blog, 2024).
Select four tiles and hit "Submit." Correct guesses reveal the category and its color (yellow being easiest, purple hardest). You win by identifying all four groups within four mistakes. The strategic depth of today's NYT Connections hints lies in recognizing the overlapping possibilities.
A crucial strategy is to avoid submitting a group until you're confident all four words only fit that specific category. Often, words are deliberately placed to fit multiple plausible groups. For example, "TRUMPET," "HORN," "FLUTE," and "DRUM" might seem like "musical instruments," but "DRUM" could be a "part of an ear" along with "COCHLEA," "ANVIL," and "STIRRUP."
If you find yourself stuck, try isolating words that seem to have no obvious partners. Sometimes, the most obscure word can be the key to unlocking a hidden category. And, of course, consulting a reliable source for hints, like this daily guide, is a perfectly valid strategy to refine your skills and ensure a win!
