Today’s New York Times Connections puzzle leans into modern slang and one of those “you either hear it all the time or never” internet vocab sets. If the blue group felt obvious to some players and impossible to others, you’re not alone. The trick is to separate everyday meanings from cultural meanings, then look for a tidy set of four that live in the same lane.
I’ve written this walkthrough to help you land the groups without spoiling the exact answers immediately. The hints below stay fully visible, and only the final groupings are hidden in tap-to-reveal boxes.
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Today’s category hints
Hint set 1: Think publicity and promotion. These words don’t just “mention” something — they actively push it forward, often as a pitch to an audience.
Hint set 2: Footwear. Not a brand list — a “types of shoes” list. If you can picture the silhouette, you’re on the right track.
Hint set 3: A song you can’t stop replaying. This group uses casual, modern terms people throw around when a track feels instantly shareable.
Hint set 4: This is the “gotcha” group. The words point toward musical notation or instruments, but there’s a twist: each item can be reframed by adjusting the starting letter to become something musical.
How to crack this puzzle fast
Start by collecting the “cleanest” set — the one with the least overlap. Footwear is usually a safe early lock because the meanings are concrete, and the words tend to cluster visually in your head. Once you’ve banked that, shift to the promotion lane: those words often sit near each other in meaning, but they can disguise themselves as everyday verbs.
The music-slang group is where many players hesitated. A couple of those words can sound like objects or tools in other contexts, so it helps to test them inside a sentence. Try: “That track is my ____.” If the blank naturally means “favorite song” or “go-to,” you’re likely in the right neighborhood.
Save the “letter-change” idea for last. These are designed to feel slightly wrong until you notice the mechanic. If you’re staring at four leftovers that refuse to form a normal set, it’s often because the category isn’t normal — it’s a pattern.
Tap to reveal today’s answers
Yellow group answers
PUBLICIZE: BOOST, HYPE, PITCH, PLUG
These all function as “push it out into the world” words. Even when they’re casual, they carry the sense of actively promoting something rather than merely mentioning it.
Green group answers
KINDS OF SHOES: CLOG, FLAT, MULE, WEDGE
A classic concrete category. If you tried to force these into “things that block” or “things that jam,” the shoe lane clears up the ambiguity immediately.
Blue group answers
ANTHEM: BANGER, BOP, HEATER, JAM
Internet and pop-culture shorthand for a song that hits. Some of these words have older, non-music meanings, which is why this group can feel “too online” depending on your feed and your age bracket.
Purple group answers
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS PLUS STARTING LETTER: GLUTE, MORGAN, SHARP, THORN
The mechanism is the point here: each entry can be turned into something musical by changing the first letter to land on an instrument or music term. It’s the kind of category that only snaps into focus once the other three are solved.
If today’s blue group tripped you up, you can treat it as a vocabulary check rather than a logic failure. Tomorrow’s set usually swings back toward more universally “dictionary” categories — but the best Connections habit is staying flexible when slang shows up.
Previous NYT Connections puzzle
Missed yesterday’s game? Catch up here: Connections Puzzle 965 Hints & Answers (January 31, 2026)
