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Connections September 4, 2026: Hints & Answers (#1275)

edited by Wyna Liu.

Recap

The groups were well-distributed, with SPHERICAL THINGS being the easiest and ACCESSORIES INSIDE STARTING AND ENDING LETTERS being the hardest.

The sixteen tiles

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

MOONEYEPIZZA PIETHAT'SMORAYCANDY CORNORANGEOPINEBOWLING BALLRIBBONCAKE DONUTCONGERCHERRY TOMATOSTIEDGULPERCRINGY

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
    Round objects
    Green
    Food combinations
    Blue
    Eel varieties
    Purple
    Word endings
  2. What linked each group, described

    Still no titles and no tiles named.

    Yellow group

    These items share a common curved shape in everyday life

    Green group

    Each of these foods has a name that combines two types of food

    Blue group

    These are all different types of eels found in various waters

    Purple group

    The starting and ending letters of these words have something in common

  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
    13 characters
    Shortest tile
    3 characters
    Multi-word tiles
    5
    Back to the sixteen tiles
  4. The trap on this board

    Which tiles pulled in two directions.

    Some cards could fit into more than one group, be careful with cards like ORANGE and CAKE DONUT.

  5. The four category titles

    Half the answer.

    Yellow
    SPHERICAL THINGS
    Green
    FOOD WHOSE NAME IS TWO FOODS
    Blue
    KINDS OF EELS
    Purple
    ACCESSORIES INSIDE STARTING AND ENDING LETTERS
  6. One tile from each group

    The anchor most people misplaced, matched to its title.

    Yellow — SPHERICAL THINGS
    BOWLING BALL
    Green — FOOD WHOSE NAME IS TWO FOODS
    CHERRY TOMATO
    Blue — KINDS OF EELS
    GULPER
    Purple — ACCESSORIES INSIDE STARTING AND ENDING LETTERS
    CRINGY
    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

    SPHERICAL THINGS

    BOWLING BALL, EYE, MOON, ORANGE. The yellow group, SPHERICAL THINGS, includes BOWLING BALL, EYE, MOON, and ORANGE.

  • Green group · 4 tiles

    FOOD WHOSE NAME IS TWO FOODS

    CAKE DONUT, CANDY CORN, CHERRY TOMATO, PIZZA PIE. The green group, FOOD WHOSE NAME IS TWO FOODS, includes CAKE DONUT, CANDY CORN, CHERRY TOMATO, and PIZZA PIE.

  • Blue group · 4 tiles

    KINDS OF EELS

    CONGER, GULPER, MORAY, RIBBON. The blue group, KINDS OF EELS, includes CONGER, GULPER, MORAY, and RIBBON.

  • Purple group · 4 tiles

    ACCESSORIES INSIDE STARTING AND ENDING LETTERS

    CRINGY, OPINE, STIED, THAT'S. The purple group, ACCESSORIES INSIDE STARTING AND ENDING LETTERS, includes CRINGY, OPINE, STIED, and THAT'S.

This board by the numbers

Puzzle
(#1275) · Friday, September 4, 2026
Tiles
16 in a 4 × 4 grid
Groups
4, yellow to purple
Multi-word tiles
5
Longest tile
CHERRY TOMATO
Mistakes allowed
4 before the board locked

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