Spoiler warning: The answers to NYT Connections #950, from Friday, January 16, 2026, are below. The puzzle’s main traps are geographic-looking words, an A-only vowel pattern and a mixed set of phrases beginning with “Grand.”
Spoiler warning: The complete solution to NYT Connections #950 appears below. If you want to solve the Friday, January 16, 2026 puzzle yourself, start with the graduated hints and stop before the answer section.
This was a mixed-difficulty grid built around several convincing decoys. PANAMA and KANSAS look like geography clues, while the blue group depends on spelling rather than musical genre. The purple group is the most varied: its four answers become related only when you place the same word in front of each one.
Hints for Connections #950
Here are the groups in increasing order of difficulty. The hints avoid giving away every answer immediately.
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Yellow hint
Think of different styles of headwear. DERBY is a good place to begin.
Green hint
These can all be part of a child’s bedtime routine. BRUSHING points toward the category.
Blue hint
These are musical acts whose names use A as their only vowel. KANSAS is one representative answer.
Purple hint
Add the same word after each entry—or, more precisely, place the word before each entry. One result is Grand Slam.
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If you want only a nudge before seeing the full grid, the four representative answers are:
- Yellow: DERBY
- Green: BRUSHING
- Blue: KANSAS
- Purple: SLAM
NYT Connections #950 answers for January 16, 2026
| Color | Category | Answers |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow | Kinds of hats | DERBY, FEDORA, PANAMA, PORKPIE |
| Green | Components of a kid’s bedtime routine | BATH, BRUSHING, PAJAMAS, STORY |
| Blue | Musical acts with “A” as the only vowel | ALABAMA, BANANARAMA, KANSAS, SANTANA |
| Purple | Grand ____ | BAHAMA, CANYON, PIANO, SLAM |
How the four categories work
Yellow: KINDS OF HATS
DERBY, FEDORA, PANAMA and PORKPIE are all hat styles. This is the most approachable group once FEDORA and PORKPIE are paired. A Panama hat is a type of hat, even though PANAMA also looks like a country name and can pull you toward the wrong theory.
Green: COMPONENTS OF A KID’S BEDTIME ROUTINE
BATH, BRUSHING, PAJAMAS and STORY can all belong to a child’s bedtime sequence: taking a bath, brushing teeth, putting on pajamas, and reading or hearing a story. The wording matters. The category says “components” rather than “actions,” which allows PAJAMAS to sit alongside the other entries even though it is something a child wears rather than something the child does.
Blue: MUSICAL ACTS WITH “A” AS THE ONLY VOWEL
ALABAMA, BANANARAMA, KANSAS and SANTANA all contain A as their only vowel in their ordinary spellings. This is an orthographic category, not a genre category: the acts come from different musical eras and styles.
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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteThe trick is that ALABAMA and KANSAS can initially look like locations, while SANTANA may register simply as a surname or name. Once you notice that the words contain no E, I, O or U, the pattern confirms itself.
Purple: GRAND ____
BAHAMA, CANYON, PIANO and SLAM each follow Grand:
- Grand Bahama
- Grand Canyon
- grand piano
- grand slam
This is the most heterogeneous category. It combines a place, a natural landmark, a musical instrument and a sports term. The capitalization also changes with the phrase: Grand Bahama and Grand Canyon are proper names, while grand piano and grand slam are common phrases.
The biggest red herrings
The grid contains several words that invite a tempting but incomplete connection. PANAMA and KANSAS both look geographic, but they belong to the hats and musical-acts groups respectively. ALABAMA reinforces that geographic impression until the vowel rule becomes visible.
BAHAMA and CANYON are difficult to group by meaning alone. They become useful only after the phrase Grand ____ is recognized. PIANO and SLAM then complete that set, despite having no obvious semantic relationship with each other.
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A practical solving order
- Start with the obvious hat candidates: DERBY, FEDORA, PANAMA and PORKPIE.
- Look for the bedtime sequence: BATH, BRUSHING, PAJAMAS and STORY.
- Inspect the remaining names for a spelling pattern. ALABAMA, BANANARAMA, KANSAS and SANTANA use A as their only vowel.
- Use the four words left over—BAHAMA, CANYON, PIANO and SLAM—to test the phrase “Grand ____.”
This is a recommended way to reduce the grid, not a claim about an official intended solve order. In Connections, identifying one group often makes a second group easier by removing the words that serve as decoys.
Want more puzzles?
For a screen-free option, Puzzle Mania!: Wordle, Connections, Spelling Bee, Minis and More! is a 224-page hardcover published by Authors Equity and distributed by Simon & Schuster. Its publisher description says it includes new spins on Connections along with Wordle, Spelling Bee, Mini Crosswords, logic puzzles and trivia. It should not be treated as a source of this specific daily puzzle #950; the book is a broader collection of related puzzle formats.
A dedicated official Connections hardcover by The New York Times Games and Wyna Liu—Connections: Find the Common Threads in 100+ Puzzles of Wit and Wordplay—is listed with an October 27, 2026 publication date. That makes it forthcoming rather than an available solution source for this January puzzle.
Complete 16-word grid
For reference, the full grid was:
PANAMA, ALABAMA, BATH, BAHAMA, SANTANA, BANANARAMA, SLAM, PAJAMAS, PIANO, PORKPIE, BRUSHING, KANSAS, DERBY, STORY, CANYON, FEDORA.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What are the NYT Connections answers for January 16, 2026?
The four groups are kinds of hats; components of a kid’s bedtime routine; musical acts with A as the only vowel; and Grand ____.
Best Value
What is the yellow group in Connections #950?
DERBY, FEDORA, PANAMA and PORKPIE are the four kinds of hats.
Why are Alabama, Bananarama, Kansas and Santana grouped together?
ALABAMA, BANANARAMA, KANSAS and SANTANA all use A as their only vowel.
What is the purple group in Connections #950?
BAHAMA, CANYON, PIANO and SLAM complete Grand Bahama, Grand Canyon, grand piano and grand slam.
The Bottom Line
Connections #950, for Friday, January 16, 2026, grouped the words into hats; a child’s bedtime routine; musical acts using A as their only vowel; and phrases beginning with “Grand.”
Quick Recap
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