NYT Connections Answer

Welcome to another day of wordplay! If you’re tackling the January 25, 2026, puzzle, you might find yourself stuck between a "shell" and a hard place. Today’s grid offers a delightful mix of technology, culinary shapes, and linguistics.

Whether you are looking for a gentle nudge or the full reveal, here is the breakdown of the answer for 2026-01-25 to help you keep your winning streak alive.

Today's Puzzle Commentary

Today’s puzzle is a classic "medium-difficulty" Sunday set. We have a very straightforward yellow category, a slightly technical green category, and a blue category that might make you hungry. The purple category, as usual, requires you to look at the words not for what they are, but for how they function as building blocks.

If you’re hunting for an NYT Connections hint, try grouping the words that describe things you find in a kitchen cabinet versus things you find on a desk.

Hints for Each Category

If you just need a small push in the right direction, here are some clues:

• Yellow Group Hint: These are all verbs or nouns used when someone is taking over for someone else.
• Green Group Hint: You’ll find all of these on a standard Windows laptop keyboard.
• Blue Group Hint: Think of different ways you might see dough extruded or shaped in Italian cuisine.
• Purple Group Hint: These four aren't really "words" on their own in this context; they are word endings that denote a state of being or a group.

Yellow: ACT AS A BACKUP

These words represent the act of standing in for another person, whether at work or in a sports game.

• COVER
• FILL IN
• SUB
• TEMP

Explanation: To "cover" for a coworker or "sub" (substitute) in a game all mean the same thing—you are a temporary replacement. "Temp" is often used for short-term office workers, and "fill in" is the general phrasal verb for the action.

Green: PC KEYBOARD KEYS

These are specific buttons you would find on a standard PC layout, though Mac users might have to think a bit harder for one or two of these.

• ALT
• ENTER
• MENU
• WINDOWS

Explanation: While ENTER and ALT are universal, the WINDOWS key is specific to PCs, and the MENU key (usually found on the bottom right) pulls up a right-click context menu.

Blue: PASTA SHAPES

If you were to look at a box of Farfalle or Penne, these are the descriptive English names we give to those shapes.

• BOWTIE
• RIBBON
• SHELL
• TUBE

Explanation: BOWTIE (Farfalle), SHELL (Conchiglie), and TUBE (Penne/Rigatoni) are common. RIBBON refers to flat pastas like Pappardelle or Fettuccine.

Purple: SUFFIXES

This is today’s trickiest category. These are common suffixes added to the end of words to change their meaning or part of speech.

• ATE
• DOM
• HOOD
• SHIP

Explanation: You can add these to the end of various roots: Passionate, Kingdom, Adulthood, and Friendship. They often denote a status, condition, or collective group.

Looking for the full answer?

If you’ve run out of guesses and just want to see the grid completed, here is the answer for 2026-01-25:

• ACT AS A BACKUP: COVER, FILL IN, SUB, TEMP
• PC KEYBOARD KEYS: ALT, ENTER, MENU, WINDOWS
• PASTA SHAPES: BOWTIE, RIBBON, SHELL, TUBE
• SUFFIXES: ATE, DOM, HOOD, SHIP

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you play NYT Connections?

The goal is to find groups of four words that share something in common. Select four words and tap "Submit" to see if your guess is correct. You have four mistakes allowed before the game ends.

What do the colors mean in Connections?

The colors represent the difficulty levels assigned by the editor, Wyna Liu:

• Yellow: Most straightforward/easiest.
• Green: Common knowledge/intermediate.
• Blue: Specific trivia or slightly more abstract.
• Purple: The trickiest; often involves wordplay, homophones, or suffixes.

When does NYT Connections reset?

A new puzzle is released every day at midnight in your local time zone.

Is today's puzzle harder than usual?

The 2026-01-25 puzzle is considered moderate. The "Keyboard Keys" and "Pasta Shapes" overlap slightly (as "Menu" and "Ribbon" can be vague), but the "Suffixes" category is the one most likely to trip players up!

Check back tomorrow for more hints and the latest NYT Connections solutions!