TodayHint

Connections September 21, 2026: Hints & Answers (#1293)

edited by Wyna Liu.

Recap

The groups were clearly defined, with distinct themes that helped solvers categorize the tiles correctly.

The sixteen tiles

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

COMPOSECHECKFLYBEETBRAHWORMSPAMMATECASTLECHUMVIVASENTCHOPCAPTUREDRAFTSSPINNER

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
    Mailbox actions
    Green
    Fishing lures
    Blue
    Chess moves
    Purple
    Composer prefixes
  2. What linked each group, described

    Still no titles and no tiles named.

    Yellow group

    Common actions you can take with your online messages

    Green group

    Things people use to try and catch fish while angling

    Blue group

    Verbs that describe strategic actions taken during a game

    Purple group

    Parts of names of famous musicians and songwriters

  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 words could fit into multiple categories, like 'check' having multiple uses, or 'draft' being a noun or verb.

  5. The four category titles

    Half the answer.

    Yellow
    EMAIL BUTTONS
    Green
    WAYS TO ATTRACT FISH
    Blue
    CHESS VERBS
    Purple
    STARTS OF COMPOSERS' NAMES
  6. One tile from each group

    The anchor most people misplaced, matched to its title.

    Yellow — EMAIL BUTTONS
    SPAM
    Green — WAYS TO ATTRACT FISH
    SPINNER
    Blue — CHESS VERBS
    CAPTURE
    Purple — STARTS OF COMPOSERS' NAMES
    VIVA
    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

    EMAIL BUTTONS

    COMPOSE, DRAFTS, SENT, SPAM. The yellow group, 'EMAIL BUTTONS', consists of: COMPOSE, DRAFTS, SENT, SPAM

  • Green group · 4 tiles

    WAYS TO ATTRACT FISH

    CHUM, FLY, SPINNER, WORM. The green group, 'WAYS TO ATTRACT FISH', consists of: CHUM, FLY, SPINNER, WORM

  • Blue group · 4 tiles

    CHESS VERBS

    CAPTURE, CASTLE, CHECK, MATE. The blue group, 'CHESS VERBS', consists of: CAPTURE, CASTLE, CHECK, MATE

  • Purple group · 4 tiles

    STARTS OF COMPOSERS' NAMES

    BEET, BRAH, CHOP, VIVA. The purple group, 'STARTS OF COMPOSERS' NAMES', consists of: BEET, BRAH, CHOP, VIVA

This board by the numbers

Puzzle
(#1293) · Monday, September 21, 2026
Tiles
16 in a 4 × 4 grid
Groups
4, yellow to purple
Multi-word tiles
0
Longest tile
COMPOSE
Mistakes allowed
4 before the board locked

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