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Connections August 29, 2026: Hints & Answers (#1276)

edited by Wyna Liu.

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 UNDER THE HOOD OF A CAR; KINDS OF SALAD; KEYBOARD KEYS; STARTING WITH FIGURES FROM GREEK MYTH. In difficulty order the answers were UNDER THE HOOD OF A CAR (ALTERNATOR, BATTERY, ENGINE, RADIATOR); KINDS OF SALAD (CHOPPED, GREEK, HOUSE, WEDGE); KEYBOARD KEYS (CONTROL, ESCAPE, SHIFT, SPACE); STARTING WITH FIGURES FROM GREEK MYTH (AT LAST, HERALD, HYDRANT, TRITONE). 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.

GREEKHYDRANTBATTERYHOUSETRITONEENGINEESCAPEAT LASTWEDGESPACERADIATORCHOPPEDCONTROLHERALDSHIFTALTERNATOR

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
    Easiest set
    Green
    Second set
    Blue
    Third set
    Purple
    Trickiest set
  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.

  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. 1 of the sixteen tile was more than one word.

    Tiles
    16 across 4 groups
    Longest tile
    10 characters
    Shortest tile
    5 characters
    Multi-word tiles
    1
    Back to the sixteen tiles
  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.

  5. The four category titles

    Half the answer.

    Yellow
    UNDER THE HOOD OF A CAR
    Green
    KINDS OF SALAD
    Blue
    KEYBOARD KEYS
    Purple
    STARTING WITH FIGURES FROM GREEK MYTH
  6. One tile from each group

    The anchor most people misplaced, matched to its title.

    Yellow — UNDER THE HOOD OF A CAR
    ALTERNATOR
    Green — KINDS OF SALAD
    CHOPPED
    Blue — KEYBOARD KEYS
    CONTROL
    Purple — STARTING WITH FIGURES FROM GREEK MYTH
    AT LAST
    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

    UNDER THE HOOD OF A CAR

    ALTERNATOR, BATTERY, ENGINE, RADIATOR. UNDER THE HOOD OF A CAR: ALTERNATOR, BATTERY, ENGINE, RADIATOR.

  • Green group · 4 tiles

    KINDS OF SALAD

    CHOPPED, GREEK, HOUSE, WEDGE. KINDS OF SALAD: CHOPPED, GREEK, HOUSE, WEDGE.

  • Blue group · 4 tiles

    KEYBOARD KEYS

    CONTROL, ESCAPE, SHIFT, SPACE. KEYBOARD KEYS: CONTROL, ESCAPE, SHIFT, SPACE.

  • Purple group · 4 tiles

    STARTING WITH FIGURES FROM GREEK MYTH

    AT LAST, HERALD, HYDRANT, TRITONE. STARTING WITH FIGURES FROM GREEK MYTH: AT LAST, HERALD, HYDRANT, TRITONE.

This board by the numbers

Puzzle
(#1276) · Saturday, August 29, 2026
Tiles
16 in a 4 × 4 grid
Groups
4, yellow to purple
Multi-word tiles
1
Longest tile
ALTERNATOR
Mistakes allowed
4 before the board locked

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