TodayHint

Connections September 9, 2026: Hints & Answers (#1272)

edited by Wyna Liu.

Recap

This puzzle featured four distinct groups, each with its own unique theme and set of connections.

The sixteen tiles

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

INCOMPREHENSIBLEELECTROMAGNETICNANOTECHNOLOGYARACHNOPHOBIAMICROBREWERYBEWILDERINGPICOSECONDHALLOWEENESOTERICMINIVANOPAQUEBRUTETASKSAWITG

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
    Unclear terms
    Green
    Small beginnings
    Blue
    Scary themes
    Purple
    Prefixes matter
  2. What linked each group, described

    Still no titles and no tiles named.

    Yellow group

    These words describe concepts that are difficult to grasp or interpret.

    Green group

    These terms all feature prefixes that indicate something small or tiny.

    Blue group

    These titles evoke fear or relate to frightening cinematic experiences.

    Purple group

    These words can all be paired with 'force' to create a new term.

  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
    16 characters
    Shortest tile
    1 characters
    Multi-word tiles
    0
    Back to the sixteen tiles
  4. The trap on this board

    Which tiles pulled in two directions.

    Some cards, like 'IT', might seem like they could fit into more than one category at first glance.

  5. The four category titles

    Half the answer.

    Yellow
    HARD TO UNDERSTAND
    Green
    WORDS WITH "SMALL" PREFIXES
    Blue
    HORROR MOVIES
    Purple
    WORDS BEFORE "FORCE"
  6. One tile from each group

    The anchor most people misplaced, matched to its title.

    Yellow — HARD TO UNDERSTAND
    INCOMPREHENSIBLE
    Green — WORDS WITH "SMALL" PREFIXES
    NANOTECHNOLOGY
    Blue — HORROR MOVIES
    ARACHNOPHOBIA
    Purple — WORDS BEFORE "FORCE"
    ELECTROMAGNETIC
    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

    HARD TO UNDERSTAND

    BEWILDERING, ESOTERIC, INCOMPREHENSIBLE, OPAQUE. The yellow group, 'HARD TO UNDERSTAND', includes BEWILDERING, ESOTERIC, INCOMPREHENSIBLE, and OPAQUE.

  • Green group · 4 tiles

    WORDS WITH "SMALL" PREFIXES

    MICROBREWERY, MINIVAN, NANOTECHNOLOGY, PICOSECOND. The green group, 'WORDS WITH "SMALL" PREFIXES', consists of MICROBREWERY, MINIVAN, NANOTECHNOLOGY, and PICOSECOND.

  • Blue group · 4 tiles

    HORROR MOVIES

    ARACHNOPHOBIA, HALLOWEEN, IT, SAW. The blue group, 'HORROR MOVIES', comprises ARACHNOPHOBIA, HALLOWEEN, IT, and SAW.

  • Purple group · 4 tiles

    WORDS BEFORE "FORCE"

    BRUTE, ELECTROMAGNETIC, G, TASK. The purple group, 'WORDS BEFORE "FORCE"', features BRUTE, ELECTROMAGNETIC, G, and TASK.

This board by the numbers

Puzzle
(#1272) · Wednesday, September 9, 2026
Tiles
16 in a 4 × 4 grid
Groups
4, yellow to purple
Multi-word tiles
0
Longest tile
INCOMPREHENSIBLE
Mistakes allowed
4 before the board locked

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