NYT Connections #938 is the puzzle for Sunday, January 4, 2026. Its 16 words form four groups of four. If you want to solve it yourself, start with the spoiler-free clues below; the answer key is farther down.
Clues for Connections #938
Try these in order, stopping when you have enough help. They move from broad prompts to the group’s underlying idea.
- Yellow: Think of something printed for readers.
- Green: Think of a spool and what can wind around it.
- Blue: Think of actions by a defensive football player.
- Purple: Each word has an extra starting letter. Remove it to find a word for a backside.
Answers for Sunday, January 4
Spoilers ahead: The categories and all 16 answers follow.
Yellow — Paper publication
COPY, EDITION, ISSUE, PRINT
Green — Spool
COIL, CRANK, REEL, WIND
Blue — Things a defensive football player does
BLITZ, BLOCK, SACK, TACKLE
Purple — Synonyms for “butt” plus a starting letter
DREAR, ETAIL, GRUMP, SCAN
The purple group uses an extra initial letter: remove the first letter of DREAR, ETAIL, GRUMP, and SCAN to get REAR, TAIL, RUMP, and CAN.
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The full 16-word grid
TACKLE, EDITION, REEL, GRUMP, BLOCK, COIL, ISSUE, DREAR, CRANK, SACK, SCAN, WIND, COPY, BLITZ, ETAIL, PRINT
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