On the first morning of 2026, a grid of sixteen scattered words invited readers of the New York Times Connections game to do what puzzles have always asked of us: find the hidden kinship among things that seem unrelated. The Economic Times offered its walkthrough of puzzle #936 as a patient companion, giving gentle nudges before any answer was spoken. Its quiet lesson is that meaning often hides in plain sight, whether in the act of setting things down on paper, in the rehearsed rhythms of a stage, in the yardsticks we use to measure worth, or in the vegetables that lose a letter and become so
NYT Connections Puzzle #936 Solutions: Write, Shtick, Benchmark and Vegetables Minus First Letter
Garden produce, with a twist
Mark
Why would anyone read a walkthrough of a word puzzle?
Mimi
Because they're stuck, and a hint can be enough. The article gives one for each color before it gives any answers.
Mark
What were the hints?
Mimi
"Get me a pen" for yellow, "Hokey" for green, "This is a level to meet" for blue, and "Garden produce, with a twist" for purple.
Mark
And the purple group was the tricky one?
Mimi
It's the hardest by design. Kale, leek, chive and squash lose their first letters and become Ale, Eek, Hive and Quash.
Luke
Worth noting the article calls yellow the easiest and purple the hardest as a general rule of the game. It doesn't report how many players actually found puzzle #936 hard.
Mark
So no data on how people fared?
Luke
None. It's a hints-and-answers piece, not a report on results.
Mimi
The strategy advice is general too. Shuffle the grid, try the easy groups first, watch for letter removal.
Luke
Right, and that advice is presented as common practice, not something tested on this puzzle.
Mark
Anything else the piece settles?
Mimi
The four-mistake limit. That much is stated plainly.
Il Polso
- Sixteen jumbled words on January 2 demanded that readers sort them into four stubborn groups before their four allowed mistakes ran out.
- The hardest purple group hides vegetables whose first letters have been stripped away, so kale, leek, chive and squash appear as Ale, Eek, Hive and Quash.
- Players eager to avoid spoilers were told to read the graduated hints first, since the walkthrough reveals every group in full.
- Strategy advice urged shuffling the grid, testing selections without committing, and tackling the easy yellow group before attempting purple.
- The puzzle lands as solved, with the Economic Times walkthrough giving readers the four answers and a clear path to finishing the day's challenge.
On the first morning of 2026, a grid of sixteen scattered words invited readers of the New York Times Connections game to do what puzzles have always asked of us: find the hidden kinship among things that seem unrelated. The Economic Times offered its walkthrough of puzzle #936 as a patient companion, giving gentle nudges before any answer was spoken. Its quiet lesson is that meaning often hides in plain sight, whether in the act of setting things down on paper, in the rehearsed rhythms of a stage, in the yardsticks we use to measure worth, or in the vegetables that lose a letter and become something new.
On the morning of January 2, 2026, players of the New York Times Connections game opened puzzle #936 to sixteen words and one familiar task: sort them into four groups of four. The Economic Times published a walkthrough that day for anyone who got stuck, offering hints first and full answers after.
Each color marks a difficulty, with yellow the easiest and purple the hardest, and four mistakes are allowed before the game ends. The hints grew more pointed as they went. For yellow, the nudge was "Get me a pen." For green, the single word "Hokey." For purple, "Garden produce, with a twist."
The answers followed. Yellow was Write: Jot, Log, Note and Record. Green was Shtick: Bit, Gag, Number and Routine, the repeated material of a comedy act. Blue was Benchmark: Bar, Example, Metric and Standard. Purple was the trickiest, vegetables with their first letters removed: Ale from kale, Eek from leek, Hive from chive, Quash from squash.
The piece also offered general advice. Clear the easy groups first or go after purple early, shuffle the grid to expose patterns, and test ideas by selecting words without submitting them. Since every group is revealed, readers still working on the puzzle were advised to stop before the answers.
On the morning of January 2, 2026, players of the New York Times Connections game opened puzzle #936 to a grid of sixteen words and a familiar task: sort them into four groups of four. The Economic Times published a walkthrough that day for anyone who got stuck, with hints first and full answers after.
The rules are simple. Each puzzle holds four groups, each tied to a color that signals difficulty. Yellow is the easiest and purple the hardest. A player can make four mistakes before the game ends, which leaves some room to test ideas.
The Economic Times offered a nudge for each color before giving anything away. For yellow, the hint was "Get me a pen." For green, it was the single word "Hokey." The blue hint read, "This is a level to meet." The purple hint was "Garden produce, with a twist." Taken together, they pointed to writing actions, performance habits, comparisons and word changes.
The yellow group was Write, made up of Jot, Log, Note and Record. All four mean to set information down, and the piece describes the group as direct, an entry point into the puzzle.
Green was Shtick, covering Bit, Gag, Number and Routine. These are the repeated, standard material of a comedy or stage act. Blue was Benchmark, with Bar, Example, Metric and Standard, each describing a level used to compare results or measure performance.
Purple, the hardest group, was vegetables with the starting letter removed. Ale comes from kale, Eek from leek, Hive from chive and Quash from squash. Each leftover is a new word, which makes the group easy to miss when the words are sitting in a grid among other meanings.
The article also passed along general strategy. Some players clear the easy groups first, while others go after purple early. Shuffling the grid can expose patterns. Purple groups often rely on letter removal, homophones or changes in word structure. Players are advised to avoid obvious traps, and to select words without submitting them in order to test an idea.
The piece reveals every group, so anyone still working on the puzzle should read the hints and stop before the answers.
Citazioni salienti
Garden produce, with a twist— Purple group hint, as published by The Economic Times
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