connection hints
Proceed at your own caution.
This is a spoiler page. The connection hints for this puzzle are here, and the next click can give a group away. Take the next step slowly.
New York Times connection hints for January 30, 2026. This is Connections 1021.
connection hints keeps each group hidden. Open a hint, then the group name, then the four words.
Yellow is the easiest.Purple is the hardest.
Yellow. Easiest.
One word in this group is AREA.
The group is REGION.
AREA, CLUSTER, PATCH, POCKET
Green. Fairly easy.
One word in this group is COMB.
The group is GROOMING ITEMS.
COMB, COMPACT, NAIL FILE, TWEEZERS
Blue. Tricky.
One word in this group is BAND-AID.
The group is THINGS WITH ADHESIVE SURFACES.
BAND-AID, LINT ROLLER, STICKER, TAPE
Purple. Hardest.
One word in this group is HELPING.
The group is ___ HAND.
HELPING, MINUTE, POKER, UPPER
These NYT connection hints are for the New York Times connection on January 30, 2026. Use them the way you would use a New York Times connection solver. The NYT connection answers stay behind each button until you open that group.
New York Times connection tips
- Clear yellow first. Those four words are the straightforward group. Once they are gone, the harder three are easier to see.
- Watch the word that fits two ideas. If a word could belong to the obvious set and also to a stranger set, it usually belongs to blue or purple.
- A perfect set is often one word off. Colors, animals, and foods are common traps. Three words belong together, and the fourth is there to pull you into a wrong guess.
- Stop when the game says one away. Read the three words that were right. The missing fourth word is the clue to the real category. Do not spend the next guess on another word from the same obvious theme.
- Leave purple for last. Purple is often wordplay, such as a fill-in-the-blank, words that go before or after another word, or a sound-alike. If you can name three groups out loud, the leftover four are probably the pun.
- You only get four mistakes. Guess a group when you can say the category in a few words. If you cannot name it yet, it is not ready.