TodayHint

Connections August 22, 2026: Hints & Answers (#1249)

edited by Wyna Liu.

Recap

The connections were about carpentry tools, types of melon, garden hose settings, and groups of pop culture girls.

The sixteen tiles

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

BITTERSPICEMEANWINTERHAMMERCONEPLANEJETGOLDENSAWMISTMUSKGILMORECHISELWATERSHOWER

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
    Woodworking basics
    Green
    Refreshing fruits
    Blue
    Sprinkler options
    Purple
    Pop culture icons
  2. What linked each group, described

    Still no titles and no tiles named.

    Yellow group

    These tools help shape and join wood

    Green group

    Types of fruit often eaten in summer

    Blue group

    Settings for a hose nozzle

    Purple group

    Groups of young women who became famous

  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. Every tile was a single word.

    Tiles
    16 across 4 groups
    Longest tile
    7 characters
    Shortest tile
    3 characters
    Multi-word tiles
    0
    Back to the sixteen tiles
  4. The trap on this board

    Which tiles pulled in two directions.

    Some cards could fit into multiple categories, like 'SPICE' or 'HAMMER' which might seem related to different groups.

  5. The four category titles

    Half the answer.

    Yellow
    CARPENTRY TOOLS
    Green
    KINDS OF MELON
    Blue
    GARDEN HOSE SETTINGS
    Purple
    ___ GIRLS OF POP CULTURE
  6. One tile from each group

    The anchor most people misplaced, matched to its title.

    Yellow — CARPENTRY TOOLS
    PLANE
    Green — KINDS OF MELON
    WINTER
    Blue — GARDEN HOSE SETTINGS
    SHOWER
    Purple — ___ GIRLS OF POP CULTURE
    GILMORE
    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

    CARPENTRY TOOLS

    CHISEL, HAMMER, PLANE, SAW. The yellow group, 'CARPENTRY TOOLS', consists of CHISEL, HAMMER, PLANE, SAW.

  • Green group · 4 tiles

    KINDS OF MELON

    BITTER, MUSK, WATER, WINTER. The green group, 'KINDS OF MELON', consists of BITTER, MUSK, WATER, WINTER.

  • Blue group · 4 tiles

    GARDEN HOSE SETTINGS

    CONE, JET, MIST, SHOWER. The blue group, 'GARDEN HOSE SETTINGS', consists of CONE, JET, MIST, SHOWER.

  • Purple group · 4 tiles

    ___ GIRLS OF POP CULTURE

    GILMORE, GOLDEN, MEAN, SPICE. The purple group, '___ GIRLS OF POP CULTURE', consists of GILMORE, GOLDEN, MEAN, SPICE.

This board by the numbers

Puzzle
(#1249) · Saturday, August 22, 2026
Tiles
16 in a 4 × 4 grid
Groups
4, yellow to purple
Multi-word tiles
0
Longest tile
GILMORE
Mistakes allowed
4 before the board locked

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