NYT Connections Hint and Answer for January 18, 2026

Is it just me, or did today’s NYT Connections puzzle feel like a walk through a classic movie studio that ended at a duck pond? Today’s grid had some clever overlaps, particularly with words like "Bill" and "Price" that could fit into multiple categories if you aren't careful.

If you’re looking for a little nudge or the full solution, here is the breakdown for the answer for 2026-01-18.

Helpful Hints for Today's Puzzle

Before we dive into the answers, here are a few NYT Connections hints to get your gears turning:

1. Yellow Category: Think about the physical anatomy of a common waterfowl.
2. Green Category: These are all verbs (or nouns) associated with ruining something completely.
3. Blue Category: Look at the back or front of a hardcover novel.
4. Purple Category: These are famous surnames of leading men from the Golden Age of cinema.

Today's Connections Answers

Now, let's look at the specific groups and the logic behind them.

Yellow: FEATURES OF A DUCK

These words are all parts of a duck's body. This was likely the most straightforward group for most players.

• BILL
• FEATHERS
• WEBBING
• WINGS

Green: DESTROY

These terms describe causing significant harm or making something non-functional. The word "TOTAL" might have tripped you up—it refers to "totaling" a car, where the damage costs more than the vehicle is worth.

• BREAK
• DAMAGE
• TOTAL
• WRECK

Blue: FOUND ON A BOOK JACKET

If you’re a bibliophile, this one probably jumped out at you. These are the standard elements found on the protective paper cover of a book.

• AUTHOR
• QUOTE (Often a "blurb" from another writer)
• SYNOPSIS
• TITLE

Purple: CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD ACTORS

This was the "tricky" category for today. These are all the last names of legendary actors from mid-20th-century film.

• COOPER (Gary Cooper)
• GRANT (Cary Grant)
• PECK (Gregory Peck)
• PRICE (Vincent Price)

A Note on the Tricky Words

The word BILL was a classic distractor today. While it fits with the duck, it could have also been a "Price" or something "Found on a Book" (like a dollar amount/price). Similarly, PECK could have been a bird action, but it didn't have enough counterparts to form a "Bird Actions" category.

Sorting out the actors first was the key to clearing the board!

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you play NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is a daily word game where you are given 16 words. You must organize them into four groups of four based on a common theme. Each group is assigned a color (Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple) based on difficulty.

When does the NYT Connections reset?

The puzzle resets every day at midnight in your local time zone.

What do the colors mean in Connections?

• Yellow: The most straightforward, literal category.
• Green: Common words or slightly more complex associations.
• Blue: Often involves specific knowledge or slightly more abstract links.
• Purple: The most difficult group, often involving wordplay, puns, or fill-in-the-blank themes.

Can there be more than one correct answer?

While some words might seem to fit in multiple categories, there is only one unique solution where every word fits into a group of four without any words left over.