Today’s NYT Connections puzzle for Friday, January 2, asks solvers to group 16 words into four thematically related sets. This guide presents the four groups and the exact words in today’s grid, drawing on published hints and notes from Rock Paper Shotgun’s coverage of the NYT puzzle.
Yellow group, Write, comprises Jot, Log, Note, Record. Green group, Shtick, comprises Bit, Gag, Number, Routine. Blue group, Benchmark, comprises Bar, Example, Metric, Standard. Purple group, Vegetables Minus Starting Letter, comprises Ale, Eek, Hive, Quash.
Hints published for Friday’s puzzle offer targeted support across the four groups: Yellow hints revolve around using a pen and paper, Green hints align with the idea that it’s their thing, Blue hints note how this can be used to draw comparisons, and Purple hints emphasize that something is missing. Extra guidance confirms that every theme contains a three-letter word, and that the words Number and Metric sit in different groups.
Here are the four groups and their words as they appear in today’s grid: Yellow writes group contains Jot, Log, Note, Record. Green shtick group contains Bit, Gag, Number, Routine. Blue benchmark group contains Bar, Example, Metric, Standard. Purple vegetables minus starting letter group contains Ale, Eek, Hive, Quash.
With the four groups identified, players can check their solution against the published answers and proceed to the next puzzle. A new Connections puzzle goes live at midnight, so tomorrow provides another chance to test personal deduction and pattern recognition.