TodayHint

Connections September 29, 2026: Hints & Answers (#1304)

edited by Wyna Liu.

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 SECLUDED; RIVER FEATURES; FIRST WORDS OF PIXAR FILMS; PHRASES HIDING GREEK LETTERS. In difficulty order the answers were SECLUDED (HIDDEN, REMOTE, SECRET, TUCKED AWAY); RIVER FEATURES (DELTA, DRAINAGE BASIN, MOUTH, STREAM BED); FIRST WORDS OF PIXAR FILMS (FINDING, INSIDE, MONSTERS, TOY); PHRASES HIDING GREEK LETTERS (FREEZE TAG, HOME GAME, MODEL TANK, ORAL PHASE). 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.

DELTAHIDDENINSIDEMODEL TANKMONSTERSFINDINGSECRETTOYFREEZE TAGORAL PHASEMOUTHREMOTESTREAM BEDTUCKED AWAYHOME GAMEDRAINAGE BASIN

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
    Easiest set
    Green
    Second set
    Blue
    Third set
    Purple
    Trickiest set
  2. What linked each group, described

    Still no titles and no tiles named.

    Yellow group

    Auto-generated hint: this is the first of 4 sets by difficulty, and its 4 tiles share one link that is not spelled out here.

    Green group

    Auto-generated hint: this is the second of 4 sets by difficulty, and its 4 tiles share one link that is not spelled out here.

    Blue group

    Auto-generated hint: this is the third of 4 sets by difficulty, and its 4 tiles share one link that is not spelled out here.

    Purple group

    Auto-generated hint: this is the fourth of 4 sets by difficulty, and its 4 tiles share one link that is not spelled out here.

  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. 7 of the sixteen tiles were more than one word.

    Tiles
    16 across 4 groups
    Longest tile
    14 characters
    Shortest tile
    3 characters
    Multi-word tiles
    7
    Back to the sixteen tiles
  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.

  5. The four category titles

    Half the answer.

    Yellow
    SECLUDED
    Green
    RIVER FEATURES
    Blue
    FIRST WORDS OF PIXAR FILMS
    Purple
    PHRASES HIDING GREEK LETTERS
  6. One tile from each group

    The anchor most people misplaced, matched to its title.

    Yellow — SECLUDED
    TUCKED AWAY
    Green — RIVER FEATURES
    DRAINAGE BASIN
    Blue — FIRST WORDS OF PIXAR FILMS
    MONSTERS
    Purple — PHRASES HIDING GREEK LETTERS
    FREEZE TAG
    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

    SECLUDED

    HIDDEN, REMOTE, SECRET, TUCKED AWAY. SECLUDED: HIDDEN, REMOTE, SECRET, TUCKED AWAY.

  • Green group · 4 tiles

    RIVER FEATURES

    DELTA, DRAINAGE BASIN, MOUTH, STREAM BED. RIVER FEATURES: DELTA, DRAINAGE BASIN, MOUTH, STREAM BED.

  • Blue group · 4 tiles

    FIRST WORDS OF PIXAR FILMS

    FINDING, INSIDE, MONSTERS, TOY. FIRST WORDS OF PIXAR FILMS: FINDING, INSIDE, MONSTERS, TOY.

  • Purple group · 4 tiles

    PHRASES HIDING GREEK LETTERS

    FREEZE TAG, HOME GAME, MODEL TANK, ORAL PHASE. PHRASES HIDING GREEK LETTERS: FREEZE TAG, HOME GAME, MODEL TANK, ORAL PHASE.

This board by the numbers

Puzzle
(#1304) · Tuesday, September 29, 2026
Tiles
16 in a 4 × 4 grid
Groups
4, yellow to purple
Multi-word tiles
7
Longest tile
DRAINAGE BASIN
Mistakes allowed
4 before the board locked

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