If you woke up today, opened the NYT Games app, and stared blankly at the word CEFTAZIDIME, don’t worry. You aren’t losing it. It’s one of those days where the New York Times editors decide to drop a word that sounds more like a spell from a fantasy novel than something you’d find in a daily puzzle.
The nyt connections hints january 12 search volume is spiking for a reason. Wyna Liu (the genius/mad scientist behind these grids) has a knack for making 16 words look like total strangers until you find that one thread. Honestly, today is a bit of a "vibe check" on your ability to ignore red herrings.
The January 12 Board: What Are We Dealing With?
Before we get into the heavy lifting, let’s look at the raw material. You’ve got a mix of the mundane and the medical.
The words:
📖 Related: Free Mahjong Dimension Game: Why You Keep Getting Stuck (And How to Actually Win)
- ARMCHAIR, BOOKCASE, CONSOLE, FOOTSTOOL
- EXPERT, INTERMEDIATE, NOVICE, PROFICIENT
- AGREEMENT, COMPACT, HANDSHAKE, UNDERSTANDING
- CEFTAZIDIME, HEADQUARTER, MONEYPENNY, PUMPERNICKEL
At first glance, your brain probably screams "Home Decor!" and "Skill Levels!" But wait. Look at ARMCHAIR. Your brain might want to pair it with EXPERT. Don't. It's a trap. An armchair expert is a thing, sure, but in this grid, an armchair is just... a chair.
Hints That Won't Spoil Everything
If you just want a nudge in the right direction without being handed the answers on a silver platter, here is the "soft" version of the nyt connections hints january 12 breakdown.
The Yellow Group Hint
Think about your living room. Or better yet, think about a catalog for a Swedish furniture giant. These are literal items you can sit on or put things in. It’s the most straightforward category today.
The Green Group Hint
This one is about your resume. Or how you’d describe your skill level in a video game or a foreign language class. It moves from "I have no idea what I'm doing" to "I am a god at this."
The Blue Group Hint
This is all about making a deal. It’s not about the deal itself, but the sign that a deal has been reached. Think about what happens when two people finally stop arguing and agree on something.
The Purple Group Hint
This is the "aha!" moment. Look at the ends of the words. Specifically, look for something you’d find in your pocket. If you see a word you don't recognize (like our friend the antibiotic), ignore the meaning and look at the suffix.
Why "Ceftazidime" is Actually the Easiest Word
It’s a classic Wyna Liu move. You see a five-syllable word that requires a medical degree to pronounce, and you panic. But in Connections, the weirder the word, the more likely it belongs in the Purple group.
In the case of nyt connections hints january 12, CEFTAZIDIME ends in DIME.
Once you see that, the rest of the Purple group—Ending in U.S. Coins—falls into place:
- CEFTA-DIME
- HEAD-QUARTER
- MONEY-PENNY
- PUMPER-NICKEL
Honestly, PUMPERNICKEL is such a great word. It’s a bread, but here, it’s just a delivery system for a five-cent piece.
Avoiding the "Armchair" Trap
The biggest mistake people are making today involves the word ARMCHAIR.
📖 Related: How Tall is Cynthia Pokemon? Why Fans Keep Getting it Wrong
If you try to link ARMCHAIR with EXPERT, you’re going to run out of lives fast. The "Armchair Expert" connection is a red herring designed to pull EXPERT away from the other skill-level words like NOVICE and PROFICIENT.
Likewise, you might see HANDSHAKE and FOOTSTOOL and think: "Body parts!" Hand, Foot... maybe there’s a Head or an Arm? And yes, HEADQUARTER and ARMCHAIR are there. This is a "compound word" red herring. If you try to group these four together, the game will tell you you're "One Away," which is the most frustrating notification in modern gaming.
The Full Reveal: January 12 Solution
If you've given up or you're down to your last mistake, here is the final breakdown for the nyt connections hints january 12 puzzle (#946).
Yellow: Living Room Furniture
- ARMCHAIR
- BOOKCASE
- CONSOLE
- FOOTSTOOL
- Difficulty level: Easy. These are just things in a house.
Green: Experience Levels
- EXPERT
- INTERMEDIATE
- NOVICE
- PROFICIENT
- Difficulty level: Medium. Straightforward synonyms for skill tiers.
Blue: Promise
- AGREEMENT
- COMPACT
- HANDSHAKE
- UNDERSTANDING
- Difficulty level: Hard. These represent different ways a contract or deal is finalized. "Compact" is the tricky one here, as it's used as a noun meaning a formal agreement.
Purple: Ending in U.S. Coins
- CEFTAZIDIME (Dime)
- HEADQUARTER (Quarter)
- MONEYPENNY (Penny)
- PUMPERNICKEL (Nickel)
- Difficulty level: Tricky. Pure wordplay. If you didn't know James Bond's secretary or the specific antibiotic, this was a tough solve.
How to Get Better at Connections
If today’s puzzle kicked your butt, don’t feel bad. This game is as much about what you don't click as what you do.
Basically, you’ve gotta learn to "sit on your hands." When you see a connection, don't click it immediately. Look at the remaining 12 words. Does any other word fit that category? If you see five words that could fit "Furniture," you know there’s a trap.
Also, look for the "outliers." CEFTAZIDIME stands out like a sore thumb. If you find a word that is clearly not like the others, try to find a wordplay reason for it to exist. Usually, it's a hidden word or a "word that follows X" category.
Next Steps for Your Daily Streak:
- Double-check for red herrings: Before submitting "Furniture," make sure ARMCHAIR isn't needed for a "Body Parts" category (which it almost was today!).
- Say the words out loud: Sometimes the connection is phonetic.
- Practice with the archive: If you're a subscriber, go back and play the December 2025 puzzles to get a feel for the current "vibe" of the editors.
- Check the Pips puzzle: If you enjoyed today's logic, the NYT "Pips" game is a great secondary workout for the same part of your brain.
Solving these puzzles is a marathon, not a sprint. Tomorrow is a new grid, a new set of traps, and a new chance to keep that streak alive.