Connections September 23, 2026: Hints & Answers (#1301)
Recap
The connections for this puzzle included everyday items, online barriers, canned products, and phrases ending with terms, requiring careful consideration of each card's possible category.
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
- Daily essentials
- Green
- Online barriers
- Blue
- Canned goods
- Purple
- Terminating phrases
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Hint 2: What linked each group, described
Still no titles and no tiles named.
Yellow group
Items commonly checked for before heading out the door
Green group
Obstacles encountered while browsing the internet
Blue group
Products often packaged in cylindrical metal containers
Purple group
Phrases that conclude with words meaning a period or limit
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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. 5 of the sixteen tiles were more than one word.
- Tiles
- 16 across 4 groups
- Longest tile
- 16 characters
- Shortest tile
- 4 characters
- Multi-word tiles
- 5
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Hint 4: The trap on this board
Which tiles pulled in two directions.
Some cards could fit into multiple categories, consider 'RECORD LABEL' and 'RUB-A-DUB' carefully, as well as 'SURINAME', and be cautious with 'SPAM' and 'PAINT'.
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Hint 5: The four category titles
Half the answer.
- Yellow
- THINGS YOU GRAB BEFORE LEAVING THE HOUSE
- Green
- WEBSITE HURDLES
- Blue
- THINGS THAT COME IN CANS
- Purple
- ENDING IN SYNONYMS FOR "TERM"
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Hint 6: One tile from each group
The anchor most people misplaced, matched to its title.
- Yellow — THINGS YOU GRAB BEFORE LEAVING THE HOUSE
- SUNGLASSES
- Green — WEBSITE HURDLES
- CAPTCHA
- Blue — THINGS THAT COME IN CANS
- CONDENSED MILK
- Purple — ENDING IN SYNONYMS FOR "TERM"
- BITCOIN
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
THINGS YOU GRAB BEFORE LEAVING THE HOUSE
KEYS, PHONE, SUNGLASSES, WALLET. The yellow group consists of 'KEYS', 'PHONE', 'SUNGLASSES', 'WALLET', all things you grab before leaving the house.
Green group · 4 tiles
WEBSITE HURDLES
AGE VERIFICATION, CAPTCHA, COOKIE CONSENT, PAYWALL. The green group consists of 'AGE VERIFICATION', 'CAPTCHA', 'COOKIE CONSENT', 'PAYWALL', all website hurdles.
Blue group · 4 tiles
THINGS THAT COME IN CANS
CONDENSED MILK, PAINT, SHAVING CREAM, SPAM. The blue group consists of 'CONDENSED MILK', 'PAINT', 'SHAVING CREAM', 'SPAM', all things that come in cans.
Purple group · 4 tiles
ENDING IN SYNONYMS FOR "TERM"
BITCOIN, RECORD LABEL, RUB-A-DUB, SURINAME. The purple group consists of 'BITCOIN', 'RECORD LABEL', 'RUB-A-DUB', 'SURINAME', all ending in synonyms for 'term'.
This board by the numbers
- Puzzle
- (#1301) · Wednesday, September 23, 2026
- Tiles
- 16 in a 4 × 4 grid
- Groups
- 4, yellow to purple
- Multi-word tiles
- 5
- Longest tile
- AGE VERIFICATION
- Mistakes allowed
- 4 before the board locked
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