NYT Connections #953 was the Monday, January 19, 2026, puzzle. Its four groups involve inexperienced beginnings, money, SI-measured quantities, and words that follow “quick.” Use the graduated hints first, or jump to the clearly marked solution section if you want all 16 answers.
Looking for the NYT Connections answers for Monday, January 19, 2026? Puzzle #953 groups its 16 words around inexperienced beginnings, large amounts of money, SI-measured quantities, and words that follow “quick.” Start with the spoiler-light clues below, then scroll past the warning for the complete solution.
Note: January 19, 2026, was a Monday. This is an archive guide for Connections #953, not a claim about the current daily puzzle.
NYT Connections #953 hints for Monday, January 19
Here are the four category clues from least revealing to most revealing:
#1 Best Overall
- Yellow: Think of someone who is new, inexperienced, or just getting started.
- Green: These words can describe a large amount of money.
- Blue: Think of quantities measured using SI-derived or SI-recognized units.
- Purple: Put the word QUICK before each answer.
In an even shorter form, the clues are: rookie; big bucks; measurement; not slow.
One-word clues for each group
If you want a little more help without seeing the full grid solution, one representative answer from each category is:
- Inexperienced: FRESH
- Money: MINT
- Measured by SI units: MASS
- Words after “quick”: SILVER
Try to use those as anchors before revealing the remaining words. The purple group is particularly useful once you notice that the answers make familiar compounds or phrases with “quick.”
Spoiler warning: the Connections #953 answers
The complete groups and all 16 answers appear below.
Yellow: INEXPERIENCED
BUDDING, FRESH, NAIVE, NEW
These words can describe a person, idea, or undertaking that is new or not yet experienced. Someone can be a budding musician, a fresh or new participant, or naive because they have limited experience or knowledge.
Green: MONEY
BUNDLE, FORTUNE, MINT, WAD
Each word can refer informally to a substantial amount of money. A person might have a bundle, a fortune, a mint, or a wad of cash. Here, MINT is being used as a money expression, not as a reference to something newly made or to the herb.
Blue: MEASURED BY SI UNITS
CURRENT, LENGTH, MASS, TIME
This category is about physical quantities associated with the International System of Units, or SI. The answers are not unit names themselves:
| Quantity | Associated SI unit |
|---|---|
| Electric current | Ampere |
| Length | Metre |
| Mass | Kilogram |
| Time | Second |
That distinction matters. The intended group is the set of quantities measured using SI units, rather than four words such as “ampere” or “kilogram.”
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FIX, SAND, SILVER, STUDY
Precede each answer with “quick” to get a familiar word or expression:
- Quick fix
- Quicksand
- Quicksilver
- Quick study
The complete Connections #953 grid
All sixteen answers were:
BUDDING, BUNDLE, CURRENT, FIX, FRESH, LENGTH, MASS, MINT, NAIVE, NEW, SAND, SILVER, STUDY, TIME, WAD, FORTUNE.
Why this puzzle was tricky
The yellow group initially looks straightforward: BUDDING, FRESH, NAIVE, and NEW all suggest a beginner or something recently started. But several words in the grid can support competing interpretations.
FRESH and NEW can both mean recent, which may make the group feel broader or less precise than it first appears. MINT is another deliberate distraction: it can suggest something newly produced, but in this puzzle it belongs with the informal money terms BUNDLE, FORTUNE, and WAD.
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The purple category is the wordplay test. Once you spot QUICKSILVER or QUICKSAND, check whether the remaining candidates form equally familiar expressions. QUICK FIX and QUICK STUDY complete the group.
For the blue group, do not search for four measurement units. Read the category as four measurable physical quantities: CURRENT, LENGTH, MASS, and TIME.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to play NYT Connections
Connections presents 16 terms that must be divided into four groups of four. Each group shares a hidden relationship, and the categories are color-coded by difficulty: yellow is generally the most accessible, followed by green, blue, and purple. The game releases a new puzzle at midnight in the player’s local time zone and is available through the New York Times website and Games apps.
You can make up to four mistakes in a puzzle. A practical solving order is:
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- Look for an obvious group of four, especially a set of direct synonyms or common objects.
- Test every word against the proposed category, including possible alternate meanings.
- Remove the confirmed group and reassess the remaining words.
- For difficult leftovers, try prefixes, suffixes, titles, phrases, abbreviations, and compound words.
- Before submitting, check whether one word fits a tempting group only because of a secondary meaning. Connections often uses that kind of deliberate misdirection.
If you want more offline practice after solving a grid like this, you can search for a word association puzzle book. That is a broader alternative for practicing semantic grouping, not an official New York Times Connections product and not a claim that it contains the NYT puzzles.
Frequently Asked Questions
The four groups are INEXPERIENCED, MONEY, MEASURED BY SI UNITS, and WORDS AFTER “QUICK.”
What is the answer to NYT Connections #953?
The purple group is FIX, SAND, SILVER, and STUDY, which become quick fix, quicksand, quicksilver, and quick study.
What are the purple answers in Connections #953?
CURRENT, LENGTH, MASS, and TIME are the four physical quantities in the SI-related group.
Which Connections #953 answers relate to SI units?
The Bottom Line
NYT Connections #953, from Monday, January 19, 2026, solves as follows: INEXPERIENCED — BUDDING, FRESH, NAIVE, NEW; MONEY — BUNDLE, FORTUNE, MINT, WAD; MEASURED BY SI UNITS — CURRENT, LENGTH, MASS, TIME; and WORDS AFTER “QUICK” — FIX, SAND, SILVER, STUDY.
Quick Recap
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