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Today’s NYT Connections puzzle has a butt joke! Or four, actually. The purple category is super bizarre, too. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.
The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.
Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time
Hints for today’s Connections groups
Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.
Yellow group hint: Extra, extra!
Green group hint: Wrap around.
Blue group hint: NFL duties.
Purple group hint: Derriere.
Answers for today’s Connections groups
Yellow group: Paper publication.
Green group: Spool.
Blue group: Things a defensive football player does.
Purple group: Synonyms for butt plus starting letter.
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What are today’s Connections answers?
The completed NYT Connections puzzle for Jan. 4, 2026.
The yellow words in today’s Connections
The theme is paper publication. The four answers are copy, edition, issue and print.
The green words in today’s Connections
The theme is spool. The four answers are coil, crank, reel and wind.
The blue words in today’s Connections
The theme is things a defensive football player does. The four answers are blitz, block, sack and tackle.
The purple words in today’s Connections
The theme is synonyms for butt plus starting letter. The four answers are drear (rear), etail (tail), grump (rump) and scan (can).
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Toughest Connections puzzles
We’ve made a note of some of the toughest Connections puzzles so far. Maybe they’ll help you see patterns in future puzzles.
#5: Included “things you can set,” such as mood, record, table and volleyball.
#4: Included “one in a dozen,” such as egg, juror, month and rose.
#3: Included “streets on screen,” such as Elm, Fear, Jump and Sesame.
#2: Included “power ___” such as nap, plant, Ranger and trip.
#1: Included “things that can run,” such as candidate, faucet, mascara and nose.
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