Connections August 5, 2026: Hints & Answers (#1235)
Recap
The puzzle featured four groups of four words each, with themes ranging from navigation and fashion brands to house styles and financial terms, requiring solvers to make connections between seemingly disparate words.
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.
-
Hint 1: Four one-line nudges, one per group
The softest hint there is.
- Yellow
- Vehicle control
- Green
- Fashion labels
- Blue
- Architectural styles
- Purple
- Financial terms
-
Hint 2: What linked each group, described
Still no titles and no tiles named.
Yellow group
These words all relate to directing or guiding something, often with a sense of movement or direction.
Green group
These brands are all well-known for making a particular type of casual, often denim, clothing.
Blue group
These terms describe distinct and recognizable styles of building design, often associated with specific historical periods or regions.
Purple group
These words all have meanings related to collections or accumulations of something, often used in business or financial contexts.
-
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. 1 of the sixteen tile was more than one word.
- Tiles
- 16 across 4 groups
- Longest tile
- 11 characters
- Shortest tile
- 3 characters
- Multi-word tiles
- 1
-
Hint 4: The trap on this board
Which tiles pulled in two directions.
Some cards could fit into more than one group, especially 'STEER' and 'RANCH', which might seem related to multiple categories at first glance.
-
Hint 5: The four category titles
Half the answer.
- Yellow
- NAVIGATE
- Green
- JEANS BRANDS
- Blue
- HOUSE STYLES
- Purple
- WHAT "STOCK" MIGHT REFER TO
-
Hint 6: One tile from each group
The anchor most people misplaced, matched to its title.
- Yellow — NAVIGATE
- MANEUVER
- Green — JEANS BRANDS
- WRANGLER
- Blue — HOUSE STYLES
- MISSION
- Purple — WHAT "STOCK" MIGHT REFER TO
- INVESTMENT
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
NAVIGATE
DRIVE, MANEUVER, PILOT, STEER. The yellow group, 'NAVIGATE', includes 'DRIVE', 'MANEUVER', 'PILOT', and 'STEER', all of which relate to controlling or guiding vehicles or movements.
Green group · 4 tiles
JEANS BRANDS
DIESEL, GAP, LUCKY, WRANGLER. The green group, 'JEANS BRANDS', consists of 'DIESEL', 'GAP', 'LUCKY', and 'WRANGLER', which are all well-known brands of jeans and casual clothing.
Blue group · 4 tiles
HOUSE STYLES
CAPE COD, MISSION, RANCH, TUDOR. The blue group, 'HOUSE STYLES', comprises 'CAPE COD', 'MISSION', 'RANCH', and 'TUDOR', which describe different architectural styles of houses.
Purple group · 4 tiles
WHAT "STOCK" MIGHT REFER TO
BROTH, CATTLE, INVESTMENT, MERCHANDISE. The purple group, 'WHAT "STOCK" MIGHT REFER TO', includes 'BROTH', 'CATTLE', 'INVESTMENT', and 'MERCHANDISE', which are all things that the term 'stock' might refer to in different contexts.
This board by the numbers
- Puzzle
- (#1235) · Wednesday, August 5, 2026
- Tiles
- 16 in a 4 × 4 grid
- Groups
- 4, yellow to purple
- Multi-word tiles
- 1
- Longest tile
- MERCHANDISE
- Mistakes allowed
- 4 before the board locked
More Connections
See the live Connections hints and answers page for the current board, or browse every archived Connections date by month.
Try the other two puzzles
-
The live NYT Strands hints, spangram and answers page
Six theme words plus the spangram, with a read-only board that traces each answer.
-
The live NYT Pips hints and answers page
Easy, medium and hard boards with domino inventories and full walkthroughs.