Connections September 22, 2026: Hints & Answers (#1307)
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 DEMONSTRATIVES; EMBELLISHMENT; OPTIONS ON A MULTIPLE CHOICE SURVEY; BEVERAGES WITH ACUTE ACCENTS REMOVED. In difficulty order the answers were DEMONSTRATIVES (THAT, THESE, THIS, THOSE); EMBELLISHMENT (ACCENT, DETAIL, FLOURISH, TOUCH); OPTIONS ON A MULTIPLE CHOICE SURVEY (AGREE, DISAGREE, NEUTRAL, OTHER); BEVERAGES WITH ACUTE ACCENTS REMOVED (CAFE, PATRON, ROSE, THE). 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: is first of 4 sets by difficulty, and its 4 tiles share one link is not spelled out here.
Green group
Auto-generated hint: is second of 4 sets by difficulty, and its 4 tiles share one link is not spelled out here.
Blue group
Auto-generated hint: is third of 4 sets by difficulty, and its 4 tiles share one link is not spelled out here.
Purple group
Auto-generated hint: is fourth of 4 sets by difficulty, and its 4 tiles share one link 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. Every tile was a single word.
- Tiles
- 16 across 4 groups
- Longest tile
- 8 characters
- Shortest tile
- 3 characters
- Multi-word tiles
- 0
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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
- DEMONSTRATIVES
- Green
- EMBELLISHMENT
- Blue
- OPTIONS ON A MULTIPLE CHOICE SURVEY
- Purple
- BEVERAGES WITH ACUTE ACCENTS REMOVED
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Hint 6: One tile from each group
The anchor most people misplaced, matched to its title.
- Yellow — DEMONSTRATIVES
- THESE
- Green — EMBELLISHMENT
- FLOURISH
- Blue — OPTIONS ON A MULTIPLE CHOICE SURVEY
- DISAGREE
- Purple — BEVERAGES WITH ACUTE ACCENTS REMOVED
- PATRON
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
DEMONSTRATIVES
THAT, THESE, THIS, THOSE. DEMONSTRATIVES: THAT, THESE, THIS, THOSE.
Green group · 4 tiles
EMBELLISHMENT
ACCENT, DETAIL, FLOURISH, TOUCH. EMBELLISHMENT: ACCENT, DETAIL, FLOURISH, TOUCH.
Blue group · 4 tiles
OPTIONS ON A MULTIPLE CHOICE SURVEY
AGREE, DISAGREE, NEUTRAL, OTHER. OPTIONS ON A MULTIPLE CHOICE SURVEY: AGREE, DISAGREE, NEUTRAL, OTHER.
Purple group · 4 tiles
BEVERAGES WITH ACUTE ACCENTS REMOVED
CAFE, PATRON, ROSE, THE. BEVERAGES WITH ACUTE ACCENTS REMOVED: CAFE, PATRON, ROSE, THE.
This board by the numbers
- Puzzle
- (#1307) · Tuesday, September 22, 2026
- Tiles
- 16 in a 4 × 4 grid
- Groups
- 4, yellow to purple
- Multi-word tiles
- 0
- Longest tile
- FLOURISH
- Mistakes allowed
- 4 before the board locked
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