Connections August 28, 2026: Hints & Answers (#1260)
The written hints below were assembled automatically from the board data rather than composed by an editor — accurate, just plainer than usual.
Recap
The 4 sets were BEDTIME PARTING WORDS; PALINDROMES; MODERN ADD-ONS/COMBINING FORMS; TOP OF THE ___. In difficulty order the answers were BEDTIME PARTING WORDS (NIGHT, REST EASY, SLEEP TIGHT, SWEET DREAMS); PALINDROMES (MOM, NOON, SIS, TOP SPOT); MODERN ADD-ONS/COMBINING FORMS (BRO, CODED, ERA, MAXXING); TOP OF THE ___ (HOUR, LINE, MORNING, POPS). This recap was assembled automatically from the puzzle data rather than written by an editor.
The sixteen tiles
The sixteen tiles as dealt. Reveal a group below to tint and caption its tiles here.
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.
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Hint 1: Four one-line nudges, one per group
The softest hint there is.
- Yellow
- Easiest set
- Green
- Second set
- Blue
- Third set
- Purple
- Trickiest set
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Hint 2: What linked each group, described
Still no titles and no tiles named.
Yellow group
Auto-generated hint: this is the first of 4 sets by difficulty, and its 4 tiles share one link that is not spelled out here.
Green group
Auto-generated hint: this is the second of 4 sets by difficulty, and its 4 tiles share one link that is not spelled out here.
Blue group
Auto-generated hint: this is the third of 4 sets by difficulty, and its 4 tiles share one link that is not spelled out here.
Purple group
Auto-generated hint: this is the fourth of 4 sets by difficulty, and its 4 tiles share one link that is not spelled out here.
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Hint 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. 4 of the sixteen tiles were more than one word.
- Tiles
- 16 across 4 groups
- Longest tile
- 12 characters
- Shortest tile
- 3 characters
- Multi-word tiles
- 4
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Hint 4: The trap on this board
Which tiles pulled in two directions.
Auto-generated hint: all 16 tiles are printed above and exactly 4 of them belong to each of the 4 sets. Several tiles read naturally in more than one of them, which is where most attempts go wrong. Settle the one you are most confident about first, then read the remaining tiles again before you commit to anything else.
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Hint 5: The four category titles
Half the answer.
- Yellow
- BEDTIME PARTING WORDS
- Green
- PALINDROMES
- Blue
- MODERN ADD-ONS/COMBINING FORMS
- Purple
- TOP OF THE ___
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Hint 6: One tile from each group
The anchor most people misplaced, matched to its title.
- Yellow — BEDTIME PARTING WORDS
- SWEET DREAMS
- Green — PALINDROMES
- TOP SPOT
- Blue — MODERN ADD-ONS/COMBINING FORMS
- MAXXING
- Purple — TOP OF THE ___
- MORNING
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
BEDTIME PARTING WORDS
NIGHT, REST EASY, SLEEP TIGHT, SWEET DREAMS. BEDTIME PARTING WORDS: NIGHT, REST EASY, SLEEP TIGHT, SWEET DREAMS.
Green group · 4 tiles
PALINDROMES
MOM, NOON, SIS, TOP SPOT. PALINDROMES: MOM, NOON, SIS, TOP SPOT.
Blue group · 4 tiles
MODERN ADD-ONS/COMBINING FORMS
BRO, CODED, ERA, MAXXING. MODERN ADD-ONS/COMBINING FORMS: BRO, CODED, ERA, MAXXING.
Purple group · 4 tiles
TOP OF THE ___
HOUR, LINE, MORNING, POPS. TOP OF THE ___: HOUR, LINE, MORNING, POPS.
This board by the numbers
- Puzzle
- (#1260) · Friday, August 28, 2026
- Tiles
- 16 in a 4 × 4 grid
- Groups
- 4, yellow to purple
- Multi-word tiles
- 4
- Longest tile
- SWEET DREAMS
- Mistakes allowed
- 4 before the board locked
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