Looking for the most recent NYT Connections puzzle answers? CNET publishes daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.
In Connections, you look at a grid of 16 words and pick four words that have a connection to each other. You do this four times until all 16 words in the puzzle are grouped. The tough part is that Times associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu chooses words that could fit in multiple groups. The obvious guess — hey! Those are four animals! — is almost always going to be wrong. I’ve compiled my favorite tips for Connections if you need a boost.
The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.
Today’s NYT Connections puzzle features three — count ’em, three — categories where you have to find hidden related words inside of other words. And the purple group throws in a twist, messing things up by adding another letter. Read on for hints and today’s Connections answers.
Hints for today’s Connections groups
Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.
Yellow group hint: Think periodic table.
Green group hint: Money, money, money.
Blue group hint: They write verse.
Purple group hint: Look for a certain food hidden in these words.
Read more: We Need to Talk About That Doggone Connections Puzzle
Answers for today’s Connections groups
Yellow group: Ending in metal elements.
Green group: Starting with US coins.
Blue group: Poets’ middle names.
Purple group: Sausages plus a letter.
What are today’s Connections answers?
The completed NYT Connections puzzle for Sept. 16, 2026.NYT/Screenshot by CNET
The yellow words in today’s Connections
The theme is ending in metal elements.
The four answers are Latin (tin), Long John Silver (silver), marigold (gold) and steam iron (iron).
The green words in today’s Connections
The theme is starting with US coins.
The four answers are dimension (dime), nickelodeon (nickel), pennywise (penny) and quarterback (quarter).
The blue words in today’s Connections
The theme is poets’ middle names.
The four answers are Barrett (Elizabeth Barrett Browning), Carlos (William Carlos Williams), St. Vincent (Edna St. Vincent Millay) and Wadsworth (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow).
The purple words in today’s Connections
The theme is sausages plus a letter.
The four answers are Borat (brat), clink (link), Frank-N-furter (frankfurter) and Widener (wiener).
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