Today’s NYT Connections puzzle is Game #1187 (September 10), and it’s one of those rounds that hands you a pair of obvious clusters and one sly set that eats your guesses. If you spotted a chemical quartet and a Boss-heavy music group early, you were already halfway home.
If you like tidy themes with a single twisty corner, this board delivers: a clear periodic-table group, a very literal “things out the window” set and four Bruce Springsteen staples make the easy work obvious — the fourth group is the trick.
SPOILER WARNING: From here on I name groups and list exact answers for NYT Connections Game #1187 — stop reading if you want to solve unaided.
Today’s NYT Connections words
The 16 words on today’s board, in the order given by the NYT:
- CATIO | ALTERNATING CURRENT | LEAD | CLOTHESLINE
- ATLANTIC CITY | REPRESENT | AIR CONDITIONER | ADULT CONTEMPORARY
- ACTINIUM | SEXTANT | BADLANDS | SULFUR
- THUNDER ROAD | FLOWER BOX | KRYPTON | BORN TO RUN
Today’s NYT Connections hints
One-line, spoiler-light nudges for each group.
- 🟡 Yellow: Four entries you’d look up on the periodic table.
- 🟢 Green: Objects you might see extending from a house window.
- 🔵 Blue: A quartet of well-known Bruce Springsteen songs.
- 🟣 Purple: Every answer ends in a short word that can mean “occurring now” or “current.”
Today’s NYT Connections group titles
- 🟡 Yellow: CHEMICAL ELEMENTS
- 🟢 Green: WHAT YOU MIGHT SEE STICKING OUT OF A WINDOW
- 🔵 Blue: BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN CLASSICS
- 🟣 Purple: ENDING IN SYNONYMS FOR “HAPPENING NOW”
What are today’s NYT Connections answers?
Here are the solved groups and their members.
| Colour | Group | Words |
|---|---|---|
| 🟡 Yellow | CHEMICAL ELEMENTS | ACTINIUM, KRYPTON, LEAD, SULFUR |
| 🟢 Green | WHAT YOU MIGHT SEE STICKING OUT OF A WINDOW | AIR CONDITIONER, CATIO, CLOTHESLINE, FLOWER BOX |
| 🔵 Blue | BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN CLASSICS | ATLANTIC CITY, BADLANDS, BORN TO RUN, THUNDER ROAD |
| 🟣 Purple | ENDING IN SYNONYMS FOR “HAPPENING NOW” | ADULT CONTEMPORARY, ALTERNATING CURRENT, REPRESENT, SEXTANT |
Today’s Connections — expert analysis
The most natural entry is the yellow chemical cluster: ACTINIUM, KRYPTON, LEAD and SULFUR are literal elements, and those four pop out immediately unless you overthink spellings or obscure names. Likewise the Springsteen set (ATLANTIC CITY, BADLANDS, BORN TO RUN, THUNDER ROAD) is a clean music cluster for anyone who knows the Boss’s catalog, so those two groups tend to fall first.
The hardest group was the purple one — ENDING IN SYNONYMS FOR “HAPPENING NOW” — because the shared feature is about word endings and synonyms rather than an obvious semantic category. ADULT CONTEMPORARY and ALTERNATING CURRENT give away the idea for players who notice CONTEMPORARY and CURRENT, but REPRESENT and SEXTANT are less obviously linked until you parse the endings as PRESENT and -TANT (pronounced to echo “-ent”/“-ant” forms), so many solvers hesitate. Two neat decoys made the board trickier: AIR CONDITIONER shares the AC initials with ALTERNATING CURRENT (and ADULT CONTEMPORARY does too), which tempts players to lump those together with window items; and CATIO or FLOWER BOX can look like niche or unfamiliar terms, slowing down the green group until you spot the literal window connection. If you’re stuck early, make a safe first guess on LEAD or SULFUR to lock in the elements, then check the music cluster — ATLANTIC CITY is an especially safe blue click.
Difficulty: 3.5/5 — two straightforward clusters, one music grouping for fans, and a sly, wordplay-based fourth set.
Yesterday’s NYT Connections answers (Game #1186)
For comparison, here are the four groups from Game #1186 (September 9).
- 🟡 Yellow (HARD TO UNDERSTAND): BEWILDERING, ESOTERIC, INCOMPREHENSIBLE, OPAQUE
- 🟢 Green (WORDS WITH “SMALL” PREFIXES): MICROBREWERY, MINIVAN, NANOTECHNOLOGY, PICOSECOND
- 🔵 Blue (HORROR MOVIES): ARACHNOPHOBIA, HALLOWEEN, IT, SAW
- 🟣 Purple (WORDS BEFORE “FORCE”): BRUTE, ELECTROMAGNETIC, G, TASK
What is NYT Connections?
NYT Connections is a daily word association game where you sort 16 words into four groups of four based on shared themes. Groups can be obvious categories, pop-culture clusters or trickier linkages like shared suffixes or abbreviations.
How to play NYT Connections
- Pick four words you think form a group and submit them as a set.
- If correct, those four are removed; if not, you lose a guess and must try again.
- Repeat until all four groups are found or you run out of attempts.
Past week’s NYT Connections answers
Missed a day? Full solutions from earlier this week, newest first.
Game #1185 — September 8
- 🟡 CLASSIC AMERICAN PERFORMANCE CARS: CORVETTE, FIREBIRD, MUSTANG, VIPER
- 🟢 FEATURES OF A MIME COSTUME: BERET, GLOVES, STRIPES, SUSPENDERS
- 🔵 ___ HEART: ARTICHOKE, PURPLE, SACRED, TAKE TO
- 🟣 CANDY BARS PLUS A LETTER: DOVES, MARSH, SKORT, TWIXT
Game #1184 — September 7
- 🟡 QUITE THE SAGA: FABRICATION, FISH STORY, TALL TALE, YARN
- 🟢 PARTS OF A BRA: CUP, HOOK, STRAP, UNDERWIRE
- 🔵 ASSOCIATED WITH PINE TREES: CAR AIR FRESHENER, CHRISTMAS, NEEDLES, TURPENTINE
- 🟣 STARTING WITH DISNEY CHARACTERS: PLUTONIUM, SCAR TISSUE, STITCH MARKER, TRAMPOLINE
Game #1183 — September 6
- 🟡 UNRESTRICTED PERMISSION: BLANK CHECK, CARTE BLANCHE, FREE REIN, FULL AUTHORITY
- 🟢 PLACES TO INSERT SOMETHING INTO ON A COMPUTER: CARD SLOT, HEADPHONE JACK, OPTICAL DRIVE, USB PORT
- 🔵 ABBREVIATIONS FOLLOWED BY REDUNDANT WORD: ATM MACHINE, LCD DISPLAY, PIN NUMBER, UPC CODE
- 🟣 ENDING WITH WAYS TO CARVE A SURFACE: COURT SCRIBE, DIRECTOR’S CUT, PIZZA SLICE, SAT SCORE
Game #1182 — September 5
- 🟡 MOVE UNSTEADILY: SWAY, TODDLE, TOTTER, WOBBLE
- 🟢 BIRD ONOMATOPOEIA: COO, GOBBLE, HONK, WARBLE
- 🔵 ___HEAD: BOBBLE, HAMMER, JUG, SLEEPY
- 🟣 DESSERTS MINUS LAST LETTER: COBBLE, PI, TAR, TORT
Game #1181 — September 4
- 🟡 SPHERICAL THINGS: BOWLING BALL, EYE, MOON, ORANGE
- 🟢 FOOD WHOSE NAME IS TWO FOODS: CAKE DONUT, CANDY CORN, CHERRY TOMATO, PIZZA PIE
- 🔵 KINDS OF EELS: CONGER, GULPER, MORAY, RIBBON
- 🟣 ACCESSORIES INSIDE STARTING AND ENDING LETTERS: CRINGY, OPINE, STIED, THAT’S
Game #1180 — September 3
- 🟡 TWO SHAKES OF A LAMB’S TAIL: BLINK, FLASH, HEARTBEAT, TRICE
- 🟢 SHADES OF RED: CARMINE, CINNABAR, MAROON, VERMILLION
- 🔵 TOY CAR BRANDS: HOT WHEELS, MATCHBOX, MICRO MACHINES, TONKA
- 🟣 SPREADSHEET FUNCTIONS: AVERAGE, COUNT, MAX, SUM
More daily puzzle help from HashTechWave
- Today’s NYT Strands hints, spangram and answers
- Today’s NYT Spelling Bee answers and pangram
- Today’s Wordle hints, clues and answer
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What time does a new NYT Connections puzzle unlock?
A brand-new puzzle drops every single night at midnight local time across your specific region’s time zone on NYT Connection official site.
Why do some words seem to fit into two different groups?
The puzzle is specifically designed to include “decoys” or overlapping vocabulary. Always look for a backup configuration of words before locking in an early guess to protect your attempt counter.
Can I review answers to older puzzles?
Yes — we keep the past week of solutions right here on this page. Scroll up to the “Past week’s NYT Connections answers” section for every recent grid, newest first, plus a full breakdown of yesterday’s puzzle.
