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 #961 for January 27, 2026.
Today’s NYT Connections #961 Hints for January 27, 2026
- Yellow category hint : Someone who is known for being funny or eccentric.
- Green category hint: Professional athletes from the National Hockey League.
- Blue category hint : The opening names of famous figures from a specific English folklore legend.
- Purple category hint: The first four letters of each word are objects used in a popular field sport.
Did you guess all the words? Let’s take a look at them below.
Today’s NYT Connections #961 Answer for January 27, 2026
- Yellow Category: Card, Character, Cutup, Joker (QUITE THE LAUGH)
- Green Category : Devil, Flyer, Penguin, Ranger (NHL TEAM MEMBER)
- Blue Category: Friar, Maid, Robin, Sheriff (FIRST WORDS OF ROBIN HOOD CHARACTER NAMES)
- Purple Category: Ballroom, Basement, Batmobile, Capstone (STARTING WITH BASEBALL GEAR)
What do you think of today’s NYT Connections puzzle?
Today’s Connections puzzle was a clever test of wordplay and synonyms. Yellow and Green felt relatively intuitive if you’re familiar with sports teams or informal ways to describe a funny person, though a few words could have easily swapped places. The difficulty spiked with Blue and Purple; the former required a bit of folklore trivia, while the latter featured a truly devious hidden pattern. Seeing the commonality in the final group once the letters were identified made for a rewarding finish. Overall, a very creative grid, earning a solid 4.5 out of 5 for its tricky linguistics.
You can also checkout today’s answers for other NYT puzzles :
- NYT Strands Puzzle Answers
- NYT Wordle Answers
- NYT Spelling Bee 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.
