The New York Times’ daily word puzzle Connections returned on Thursday with puzzle number #942, once again challenging players to uncover hidden relationships among 16 seemingly unrelated words. Like Wordle, the game has built a loyal following thanks to its blend of logic, vocabulary, and clever misdirection. For those struggling to crack today’s puzzle, here is a complete breakdown of hints, categories, and the NYT Connections Answers.

What is NYT Connections?

Connections is a daily word-association game published by The New York Times. Players are presented with 16 words and must divide them into four groups of four, with each group sharing a common theme. The challenge lies in overlapping meanings, misleading similarities, and wordplay that can easily send solvers down the wrong path.

Each category is colour-coded based on difficulty: yellow (easiest), green, blue, and purple (hardest). Players are allowed only four incorrect attempts before the puzzle ends and the answers are revealed.

Category types in today’s Connections puzzle

For Thursday’s puzzle, the four categories followed a familiar yet deceptive structure. According to spoiler-free hints, the themes included related nouns, related verbs, physics-based objects, and a wordplay-heavy category involving hidden meanings, as per a report by Life Hacker.

Several words appeared to fit multiple categories, making patience and careful elimination key to solving the puzzle correctly.

Spoiler-free hints for January 8 Connections

Before revealing the solutions, players were guided with indirect hints for each group:

• Yellow category: Physical reactions linked to intense emotions
  
• Green category: Actions that bend or break everyday rules
  
• Blue category: Objects commonly explained in physics lessons
  
• Purple category: Words that secretly begin with candy bar names
  

An additional challenge came from misleading overlaps. Words such as goosebump, jaywalk, crowbar, and dovetail all begin with bird names, but each belonged to a different category.

NYT Connections Answers for Thursday, January 8

After sorting through the misdirection, the final groupings for puzzle #942 were as follows:

Yellow — Bit of a response to strong emotions

• Chill
  
• Goosebump
  
• Shiver
  
• Tingle
  

This group focused on physical sensations commonly triggered by fear, excitement, or cold.

Green — Break the rules

• Jaywalk
  
• Litter
  
• Loiter
  
• Speed
  

These words describe minor but familiar rule-breaking behaviours, particularly in public spaces.

Blue — First-class levers

• Clothespin
  
• Crowbar
  
• Scissors
  
• Seesaw
  

This category leaned into basic physics, grouping objects that function as first-class levers.

Purple — Starting with candy bars

• Aeroplane (Aero)
  
• Dovetail (Dove)
  
• Heathers (Heath)
  
• Marsala (Mars)
  

Considered the most difficult, this group required identifying well-known candy bars hidden at the beginning of longer words.

Why today’s puzzle stood out

Thursday’s Connections puzzle was notable for its layered misdirection. Several words appeared to share obvious links, such as movie titles or animal references, but those similarities were intentional traps. The purple category, in particular, demanded cultural awareness beyond vocabulary, rewarding players who noticed brand references embedded within everyday words.

Overall, the puzzle struck a balance between accessibility and challenge, making it a satisfying solve for experienced players.

FAQs

What are the NYT Connections Answers for January 8, 2026?

The answers are grouped into emotions, rule-breaking actions, physics levers, and words starting with candy bar names.

How many mistakes are allowed in Connections?

Players can make up to four incorrect guesses before the game ends.