Facial features, parking options, imperial units, and ‘light’ pairings collide in today’s NYT Connections, spotting the patterns to beat the grid.
January 23’s NYT Connections mixes cheeks and temples with garages, measurements, and a tricky purple group built around ‘light.’
From appearance-based clues to parking terms and classic units, today’s NYT Connections puzzle hides smart logic behind everyday words.
Struggling to find the NYT Connections categories today? NYT Connections is one of the most unpredictable NYT puzzles where the four categories share no connection with each other. When you look at the words like Eye, Garage, Meter, Stone, etc., there’s no way you can find any clue. Only a keen observation and proper brainstorming will reveal the exact categories.
If you are struggling with today’s NYT Connections, you have to think of words that you often use to talk about people’s appearance, different types of parking, measurement units, and words that fit with ‘Light’. Finding the correct four words to make each set may require some help, so here’s the detailed guide to dive into NYT Connections answers and hints for today.
NYT experts everyday rate the Connections puzzles out of 5 to hint at the difficulty level. Today’s one is rated 3 out of 5. While solving players may rate it differently, but as per the experts, today’s puzzle is comparatively difficult to solve. So, those who are struggling to figure it out, here are the hints to make the process easier. Let's start with the hints category-wise:
Easiest Group (Yellow): Today’s yellow group words are used to describe someone’s appearance.
Moderate Group (Green): This group will contain words that are associated with parking cars.
Challenging Group (Blue): This group will have four words related to measurement units.
Most Difficult Group (Purple): This is the final category; these words are associated with items that go perfectly well with ‘Light’.
Also Read: Today’s NYT Strands Hints and Answers for January 22, 2026
With the above hints, solvers must have reached near the themes of today’s Connections, but, if there are the words to form them, below are the solutions to check out:
Yellow Category (FACIAL FEATURES): CHEEK, EYE, LIP, TEMPLE
Green Category (KINDS OF PARKING): GARAGE, METER, STREET, VALET
Blue Category (IMPERIAL UNITS): ACRE, BUSHEL, FOOT, STONE
Purple Category (WORDS BEFORE "LIGHT"): FLOOD, LIME, PILOT, TRAFFIC
For further clarity, check out the image below:
These are the four categories for today’s puzzle, and hopefully, most players have guessed the word sets without the answer. So, congratulations to all who have solved it!
Unlike traditional crosswords or word searches, NYT Connections asks players to identify subtle connections between the given words and form four groups of four. Connections presents a grid of 16 words, and the objective is to group them into four sets of four words each.
The twist is that each set must be formed while adhering to a specific theme. To solve this puzzle, players must be aware of the connection between particular words.
NYT Connections is tricky. That’s the most attractive part of this puzzle as well. This puzzle appeals to those who love challenges. Unlike other puzzles, this one offers four different themes every day, making it both complicated and exciting. These themes never get repeated. Therefore, the solutions require a solid vocabulary to identify connections between words.
Also Read: NYT Wordle Answer Today for January 23, 2026: Hints and Expert Walkthrough Revealed