Today’s Connections gives you a satisfying mix of literal sets and one that rewards a little lateral thinking. Game #1111 (2026-06-26) serves up a crunchy opening, obvious landscape trio and a finish that asks you to spot letters tacked onto colors.
If you cleared the yellow and green early, congratulations — the board was designed to let you build momentum and then stall on the trickier theme cluster near the end.
SPOILER WARNING: Below are the full solutions and detailed analysis for NYT Connections Game #1111 (2026-06-26). If you haven’t finished the puzzle and want to try on your own, stop here.
Today’s NYT Connections words
The 16 words in today’s puzzle:
- TANG | CHIP | BOARD | PINKY
- DALE | REDO | SPLINTER | NUT
- HOLLOW | TREE | GORGE | BRONZER
- CRACKER | DELL | LOG | PRETZEL
Today’s NYT Connections hints
One-line, spoiler-light nudges for each group.
- 🟡 Yellow: Four familiar things you might find in a snack bowl.
- 🟢 Green: Four literal pieces or measures of wood.
- 🔵 Blue: Four words that name low-lying landforms or hollows.
- 🟣 Purple: Four entries that look like color names with one extra letter attached.
Today’s NYT Connections group titles
The official group titles for Game #1111.
- 🟡 Yellow: “CRUNCHY SNACK ITEM”
- 🟢 Green: “VARIOUS AMOUNTS OF WOOD”
- 🔵 Blue: “AREAS OF LOW GROUND”
- 🟣 Purple: “COLORS PLUS A LETTER”
What are today’s NYT Connections answers?
- 🟡 Yellow (CRUNCHY SNACK ITEM): CHIP, CRACKER, NUT, PRETZEL
- 🟢 Green (VARIOUS AMOUNTS OF WOOD): BOARD, LOG, SPLINTER, TREE
- 🔵 Blue (AREAS OF LOW GROUND): DALE, DELL, GORGE, HOLLOW
- 🟣 Purple (COLORS PLUS A LETTER): BRONZER, PINKY, REDO, TANG
Today’s Connections — expert analysis
The natural entry here was the yellow cluster: CHIP, CRACKER, NUT and PRETZEL are loudly snacky and pop immediately. Once that set goes, BOARD, LOG, SPLINTER and TREE are the next tidy collection — the “wood” set is very literal, so it’s usually an early clear too.
The toughest finish was the purple group. “COLORS PLUS A LETTER” is a clever meta pattern, but the members—BRONZER, PINKY, REDO and TANG—are perfectly normal words in isolation, so they don’t scream their connection. That subtlety is what trips players up. Decoys here were plentiful: CHIP can masquerade as a wood chip and tempt you toward the green set; HOLLOW and TREE flirt across blue and green (a hollow in a tree is a believable mental image); and BRONZER or REDO look perfectly plausible as non-color things at first glance. Overall this board sits at a comfortable moderate difficulty — straightforward early sets with a smart thematic finish that rewards patience.
Yesterday’s NYT Connections answers (Game #1110)
Quick recap of Game #1110’s four groups.
- 🟡 Yellow (COMPUTER PERIPHERALS): MICROPHONE, MONITOR, PRINTER, TRACKPAD
- 🟢 Green (TIGHTLY PACKED): COMPACT, COMPRESSED, DENSE, SQUASHED
- 🔵 Blue (HAZARDOUS ELEMENTAL METALS): FRANCIUM, LEAD, MERCURY, POLONIUM
- 🟣 Purple (STARTING WITH BIRD HOMOPHONES): CRANIUM, CROQUETTE, DUCTILE, HOCKEY
What is NYT Connections?
Connections is a daily word game from The New York Times that asks players to sort 16 words into four groups of four. The challenge is to spot the hidden relationships — some literal, some thematic, some delightfully sneaky.
It’s quick to play but layers in subtlety, rewarding pattern-spotting and the ability to tolerate a little ambiguity before the aha moment hits.
How to play NYT Connections
- Scan the 16 words and pick an obvious four that share a clear trait.
- Lock those in and repeat, using elimination to make the remaining groups clearer.
- If you’re stuck, look for less literal links — prefixes, suffixes, letters added or removed, or homophones.
- Remember some words can be deceptive decoys; stay flexible and re-evaluate groupings as you go.
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! If you are tracking performance over time or reviewing a grid you missed over the weekend, you can check out our dedicated NYT Connections Past Archive to look over historical solutions.
