TodayHint

Connections August 20, 2026: Hints & Answers (#1252)

edited by Wyna Liu.

Recap

The puzzle featured four groups of connected tiles, ranging from popular pizza types to similarly shaped punctuation marks, with clever connections to be discovered.

The sixteen tiles

The sixteen tiles as dealt. Reveal a group below to tint and caption its tiles here.

TELEPHONEAPOSTROPHEOXFORDSERIALHAWAIIANOKINARATCHETCOMMAWHITEPIGMENTATOMICDRAGONFLYDIAVOLACEDILLAMEAT LOVERSSOCIAL SECURITY

Connections hints, one rung at a time

Six rungs, softest first. The recap above already named the groups, so this ladder is here for anyone replaying the board fresh rather than as a spoiler shield.

  1. Four one-line nudges, one per group

    The softest hint there is.

    Yellow
    Pizza varieties
    Green
    Number types
    Blue
    Punctuation marks
    Purple
    Creative starts
  2. What linked each group, described

    Still no titles and no tiles named.

    Yellow group

    These options are popular choices when ordering a pie

    Green group

    These numbers identify something specific about a person or thing

    Blue group

    These typographical marks are used to indicate pauses or special sounds

    Purple group

    These phrases begin with animals from a certain cultural tradition

  3. Board facts

    Counted off the sixteen printed tiles.

    Sixteen tiles, four groups of four, ordered yellow → green → blue → purple from most to least obvious. 2 of the sixteen tiles were more than one word.

    Tiles
    16 across 4 groups
    Longest tile
    15 characters
    Shortest tile
    5 characters
    Multi-word tiles
    2
    Back to the sixteen tiles
  4. The trap on this board

    Which tiles pulled in two directions.

    Some cards could fit into multiple categories, consider 'OXFORD' and 'PIGMENT' carefully, as well as 'DRAGONFLY' and 'RATCHET'.

  5. The four category titles

    Half the answer.

    Yellow
    KINDS OF PIZZA
    Green
    KINDS OF NUMBERS
    Blue
    SIMILARLY SHAPED TYPOGRAPHICAL MARKS
    Purple
    STARTING WITH CHINESE ZODIAC ANIMALS
  6. One tile from each group

    The anchor most people misplaced, matched to its title.

    Yellow — KINDS OF PIZZA
    DIAVOLA
    Green — KINDS OF NUMBERS
    SOCIAL SECURITY
    Blue — SIMILARLY SHAPED TYPOGRAPHICAL MARKS
    CEDILLA
    Purple — STARTING WITH CHINESE ZODIAC ANIMALS
    RATCHET
    Open the full groupings

Every Connections group from that board

All four groups, folded. Opening one tints its four tiles above and captions them with the category name.

  • Yellow group · 4 tiles

    KINDS OF PIZZA

    DIAVOLA, HAWAIIAN, MEAT LOVERS, WHITE. The yellow group is KINDS OF PIZZA, with DIAVOLA, HAWAIIAN, MEAT LOVERS, WHITE.

  • Green group · 4 tiles

    KINDS OF NUMBERS

    ATOMIC, SERIAL, SOCIAL SECURITY, TELEPHONE. The green group is KINDS OF NUMBERS, with ATOMIC, SERIAL, SOCIAL SECURITY, TELEPHONE.

  • Blue group · 4 tiles

    SIMILARLY SHAPED TYPOGRAPHICAL MARKS

    APOSTROPHE, CEDILLA, COMMA, OKINA. The blue group is SIMILARLY SHAPED TYPOGRAPHICAL MARKS, with APOSTROPHE, CEDILLA, COMMA, OKINA.

  • Purple group · 4 tiles

    STARTING WITH CHINESE ZODIAC ANIMALS

    DRAGONFLY, OXFORD, PIGMENT, RATCHET. The purple group is STARTING WITH CHINESE ZODIAC ANIMALS, with DRAGONFLY, OXFORD, PIGMENT, RATCHET.

This board by the numbers

Puzzle
(#1252) · Thursday, August 20, 2026
Tiles
16 in a 4 × 4 grid
Groups
4, yellow to purple
Multi-word tiles
2
Longest tile
SOCIAL SECURITY
Mistakes allowed
4 before the board locked

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