Waking up on a Sunday morning usually means two things: coffee and the New York Times puzzle stable. But honestly, today’s grid is a bit of a menace. If you’ve already stared at the screen for ten minutes and felt your brain start to liquefy, you aren't alone. The NYT Connections hints December 28 puzzle, officially game #931, is playing some serious mind games with common liquids and mechanical jargon.
It’s Sunday, January 17, 2026, as I’m writing this, and looking back at these late-December puzzles always reminds me how the editors love to throw a curveball right before the New Years' rush. They know we’re tired. They know we’re distracted by holiday leftovers. And they absolutely know we’re going to fall for the red herrings.
The Big Traps in Today's Grid
Before we even get into the actual categories, we have to talk about the elephant in the room. Or rather, the bottle of water.
If you look at the board, you’ll immediately see SPRING, STILL, and PERRIER. Your brain screams "types of water!" right? That is exactly what Wyna Liu, the puzzle’s creator, wants you to think. It’s a classic bait-and-switch. While those words do relate to water in the real world, in the world of Connections, they belong to three completely different groups.
It’s brutal.
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Another sneaky overlap is STATIC and STATIONARY. They feel like they should be together, and—spoiler—they actually are. But when you see CONSTANT and STILL nearby, the group starts to feel almost too simple, making you second-guess if there’s a deeper wordplay at work.
NYT Connections Hints December 28: A Little Push
If you just want a nudge in the right direction without having the whole thing spoiled, here are some cryptic clues for the four color-coded groups.
- Yellow (Easiest): Think about what you’d find in a post office or a shipping center. These are the physical things that hold your stuff when it's in transit.
- Green (Easy): This group is all about things that don't move. If it's stuck, fixed, or unchanging, it's probably here.
- Blue (Medium): This one is for the gearheads. If you opened up an old-fashioned mechanical watch or a clock, these are the bits and bobs that make the hands move.
- Purple (Hardest): This is the "wordplay" category. Look at the words and try changing the first letter. Specifically, think about man's best friend.
Today’s Groups and Word List
If those hints didn't quite do the trick, let's break down the actual words involved in the NYT Connections hints December 28 puzzle.
The 16 words today are:
BOX, CONSTANT, DUSKY, ENVELOPE, GEAR, MAILER, NOODLE, PAWL, PERRIER, RATCHET, SOXER, SPRING, STATIC, STATIONARY, STILL, and TUBE.
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The Yellow Group: Containers For Shipping
This is arguably the most straightforward set, though TUBE and MAILER can sometimes feel like they belong to different "office supply" categories.
- BOX
- ENVELOPE
- MAILER
- TUBE
The Green Group: Unmoving
This is where STILL finally finds its home. It’s not about water; it’s about a lack of motion.
- CONSTANT
- STATIC
- STATIONARY
- STILL
The Blue Group: Mechanical Watch Parts
This is the one that usually trips people up because of the word PAWL. Unless you’re a hobbyist horologist or a bike mechanic, "pawl" isn't exactly part of your daily vocabulary. For the record, a pawl is a pivoted bar that falls into the notches of a ratchet wheel.
- GEAR
- PAWL
- RATCHET
- SPRING (Yep, the "water" word was actually a clock part!)
The Purple Group: Dogs With First Letter Changed
This is a classic "hidden theme" category. If you change the first letter of these words, you get dog breeds. This is a very common NYT trope.
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- DUSKY (Husky)
- NOODLE (Poodle)
- PERRIER (Terrier)
- SOXER (Boxer)
Why Is Today’s Puzzle Rated "Easy" by the Bot?
The NYT Connections Bot often rates puzzles like this as "Easy" because the internal logic is consistent, even if the vocabulary (like PAWL) is niche. The "shipping" and "unmoving" categories have very little overlap once you realize the water theme is a fake.
However, for a casual player, the PERRIER and SPRING trap is a massive time-sink. If you wasted two guesses on water types, you’re suddenly playing on "Hard Mode" with only two mistakes left to clear three categories.
Strategic Advice for Future Puzzles
When you see a very obvious theme—like the water brands today—stop. Do not click them.
Search the rest of the board for a fifth or sixth word that could also fit that theme. If you see STILL, SPRING, PERRIER, and then you notice SODA or TAP isn't there, but STATIONARY is, start looking for a different connection for STILL.
The NYT editors rarely give you a category that is exactly what it looks like at first glance. They want you to look at the words as strings of letters rather than just their definitions. That's why the Purple group today (DUSKY/Husky) is so effective; it forces you to stop reading the word and start manipulating it.
Actionable Next Steps
- Shuffle the board: Seriously. If you’re stuck on the water theme, hit shuffle until those words are on opposite corners. It breaks the visual association.
- Read out loud: Saying "Noodle" and "Soxer" aloud often triggers the rhyme or the "sounds like" connection that your eyes might miss.
- Check the parts of speech: Are they all nouns? Today’s puzzle used a mix of adjectives (Static, Constant) and nouns (Box, Gear), which is a huge clue that they belong in separate groups.
If you’ve managed to solve today’s grid, nice work. If not, don't sweat it—there’s always tomorrow’s puzzle to reclaim your pride. Just remember to keep an eye out for those first-letter swaps; they are the bread and butter of the Purple category.