Do you like making connections in life? No, I am not talking about the ones on LinkedIn, but NYT’s much-hyped Connections game. Unlike the social media app, creating a connection in the game is pretty easy as you need to categorize four similar words into a category. It’s a simple yet challenging game that can test your wits as well as your vocabulary skills. So, without any further ado, here are the answers and hints for today’s NYT Connections #956 for January 22, 2026.

NYT Connections #961 Hints, Answers Today – January 27, 2026 - 1

Today’s NYT Connections #956 Hints for January 22, 2026

  • Yellow category hint : How you would describe a high-resolution photograph.
  • Green category hint: Sweet treats often served warm with a fruit filling.
  • Blue category hint : Different ways to describe making a mistake or a slip-up.
  • Purple category hint: Each of these words contains a famous magazine title if you remove one specific letter.

Did you guess all the words? Let’s take a look at them below.

Today’s NYT Connections #956 Answer for January 22, 2026

  • Yellow Category: Clear, Crisp, Distinct, Sharp (WELL-DEFINED, AS AN IMAGE)
  • Green Category : Cobbler, Crumble, Strudel, Turnover (FRUIT DESSERTS)
  • Blue Category: Fluff, Fumble, Miss, Trip (BUNGLE)
  • Purple Category: Ellen, Spiny, Timer, Use (MAGAZINES PLUS A LETTER)

What do you think of today’s NYT Connections puzzle?

Today’s Connections puzzle offered a delightful mix of the literal and the lateral. The Yellow and Green categories felt very intuitive, providing a smooth entry point for anyone familiar with photography or baking. Blue added a nice layer of synonyms for error, but the real star was Purple. Spotting the editorial titles hidden within those words required a keen eye for spelling, which made for a very satisfying conclusion to the grid. It was a cleverly constructed set, earning a solid 4.5 out of 5 for its elegant theme execution.

You can also checkout today’s answers for other NYT puzzles :

  • NYT Strands Puzzle Answers
  • NYT Wordle Answers
  • NYT PIPS Answers
  • NYT Mini Crossword

How to Play NYT Connections

Playing NYT Connections is pretty straightforward, as you need to group four similar words in a single group . However, the difficulty increases, with the yellow category being the easiest and purple being the hardest. The green category refers to moderate difficulty, while blue is complex, being one notch above.

There are 16 words in each puzzle , and there is a theme for each group, although the puzzle doesn’t reveal it. You only get four chances to correctly guess every group’s meaning; you can have four incorrect guesses, so use them wisely. If the answer is correct, you can move on to the next group; otherwise, you are stuck with the same one.

Moreover, just like Wordle, Connections refreshes every 24 hours, so you will need to wait till the next day for a fresh one. Also, if you guess incorrectly, there’s no way to play the game again, and it will simply reveal the correct results.

While playing the game itself does not require an NYT connection, you will need to create one if you wish to track your progress. You can also share your results by copying them to the clipboard and pasting them wherever you want.