Connections November 11, 2026: Hints & Answers (#1354)
Recap
The puzzle featured four groups of four words each, with connections ranging from medical practices to golf course features, inflated objects, and words with palindromic endings. Solvers had to carefully consider the relationships between the words to place them correctly.
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
- Natural Remedies
- Green
- Golf Terrain
- Blue
- Inflated Objects
- Purple
- Reversing Words
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Hint 2: What linked each group, described
Still no titles and no tiles named.
Yellow group
These terms describe approaches to health and wellness that differ from conventional Western medicine.
Green group
These areas are found on a golf course and present varying levels of challenge to players.
Blue group
These items are characterized by being filled with air, often for comfort, amusement, or functional purposes.
Purple group
These words read the same when their letters are reversed, a property known as a palindrome.
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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
- 15 characters
- Shortest tile
- 4 characters
- Multi-word tiles
- 4
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Hint 4: The trap on this board
Which tiles pulled in two directions.
Some cards could fit into multiple categories at first glance, particularly those related to common objects or terms that have multiple uses. Be cautious with words that have multiple meanings or functions, such as 'TIRE' or 'BUBBLE'.
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Hint 5: The four category titles
Half the answer.
- Yellow
- KINDS OF MEDICINE
- Green
- PARTS OF A GOLF COURSE
- Blue
- THINGS FILLED WITH AIR
- Purple
- ENDING IN PALINDROMES
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Hint 6: One tile from each group
The anchor most people misplaced, matched to its title.
- Yellow — KINDS OF MEDICINE
- TRADITIONAL
- Green — PARTS OF A GOLF COURSE
- SAND TRAP
- Blue — THINGS FILLED WITH AIR
- AIR MATTRESS
- Purple — ENDING IN PALINDROMES
- RHEOSTATS
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 MEDICINE
FOLK, HERBAL, HOLISTIC, TRADITIONAL. The yellow group, KINDS OF MEDICINE, includes FOLK, HERBAL, HOLISTIC, and TRADITIONAL, all of which describe alternative approaches to medical practice.
Green group · 4 tiles
PARTS OF A GOLF COURSE
GREEN, ROUGH, SAND TRAP, TEE BOX. The green group, PARTS OF A GOLF COURSE, consists of GREEN, ROUGH, SAND TRAP, and TEE BOX, all of which are features found on a golf course.
Blue group · 4 tiles
THINGS FILLED WITH AIR
AIR MATTRESS, BUBBLE, TIRE, WHOOPIE CUSHION. The blue group, THINGS FILLED WITH AIR, comprises AIR MATTRESS, BUBBLE, TIRE, and WHOOPIE CUSHION, items that are inflated with air for various purposes.
Purple group · 4 tiles
ENDING IN PALINDROMES
AFTERNOON, PATOOT, RHEOSTATS, SHREDDER. The purple group, ENDING IN PALINDROMES, contains AFTERNOON, PATOOT, RHEOSTATS, and SHREDDER, words that end with palindromic sequences.
This board by the numbers
- Puzzle
- (#1354) · Wednesday, November 11, 2026
- Tiles
- 16 in a 4 × 4 grid
- Groups
- 4, yellow to purple
- Multi-word tiles
- 4
- Longest tile
- WHOOPIE CUSHION
- Mistakes allowed
- 4 before the board locked
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