Game #1177 and August 31 bring a tidy mix of obvious labels, world-historical titles and one tricky quartet that hides behind a common word. Today’s Connections asks you to spot packaging warnings, tube-friendly items, sovereign ranks and four ways to finish a familiar phrase.
If you want to solve without peeking, stop now — these notes are for readers who have already tried (or surrendered) and want a fast, strategic breakdown.
SPOILER WARNING: The rest of this article names every group and every answer for NYT Connections Game #1177 (2026-08-31).
Today’s NYT Connections words
Sixteen words appeared on the board — here they are in the order given.
- SUPER | CALIPH | FRAGILE | LIPSTICK
- SALAD | HEAVY | DUST | POSTER
- PHARAOH | POKE | TOOTHPASTE | KHAN
- PERISHABLE | TENNIS BALLS | SHOGUN | THIS SIDE UP
Today’s NYT Connections hints
Four spoiler-light nudges to help you start.
- 🟡 Yellow: Look for everyday personal-care and rolled goods you buy in small cylindrical containers.
- 🟢 Green: These are the kinds of bold markings you’d see printed on a shipping crate or courier box.
- 🔵 Blue: Think historic leadership titles from different regions and eras.
- 🟣 Purple: Four words that pair with the same short noun to make familiar compound phrases.
Today’s NYT Connections group titles
Here are the official group titles for Game #1177.
- 🟡 Yellow: “THINGS THAT COME IN TUBES”
- 🟢 Green: “WARNINGS ON A SHIPPING BOX”
- 🔵 Blue: “HISTORICAL SOVEREIGN TITLES”
- 🟣 Purple: “___ BOWL”
What are today’s NYT Connections answers?
All four solved groups for Game #1177 are listed below.
| Colour | Group | Words |
|---|---|---|
| 🟡 Yellow | THINGS THAT COME IN TUBES | LIPSTICK, POSTER, TENNIS BALLS, TOOTHPASTE |
| 🟢 Green | WARNINGS ON A SHIPPING BOX | FRAGILE, HEAVY, PERISHABLE, THIS SIDE UP |
| 🔵 Blue | HISTORICAL SOVEREIGN TITLES | CALIPH, KHAN, PHARAOH, SHOGUN |
| 🟣 Purple | ___ BOWL | DUST, POKE, SALAD, SUPER |
Today’s Connections — expert analysis
The most natural entry was the Yellow tube group: TOOTHPASTE and LIPSTICK are immediate giveaways and TENNIS BALLS and POSTER slot in once you remember that many roll-packed goods and posters ship in tubes. That cluster is fast because the physical packaging image is concrete and shared by all four words.
The hardest set was the Purple “___ BOWL” group. DUST, POKE, SALAD and SUPER are all common words but belong to very different semantic families, so they don’t scream a single theme at first glance. POSTER or SALAD might lure solvers away earlier — POSTER looks like a flat object you might group with PRINT items (or even think of a mailing container), and SALAD is a tempting food entry that could be misread as fitting a grocery or perishables cluster. Likewise, SUPER can momentarily look like an intensifier connected to HEAVY or FRAGILE, and POKE’s verb form makes it feel unrelated until you catch the ‘poke bowl’ phrase.
If you’re stuck on the first guess, pick the Green shipping warnings: FRAGILE, HEAVY, PERISHABLE and THIS SIDE UP are blunt, label-like terms with low overlap elsewhere on the board, so they’re an efficient safe play that preserves chances to hunt the trickier Purple set later.
Difficulty: 3/5 — a couple of instant clusters and one deceptively mixed set that slows progress.
Yesterday’s NYT Connections answers (Game #1176)
For comparison, here are the four groups from Game #1176 (Aug 30).
- 🟡 Yellow (EXERCISE FACILITIES): GYMNASIUM, HEALTH CLUB, REC CENTER, YMCA
- 🟢 Green (WINE ACCESSORIES): AERATOR, CORKSCREW, DECANTER, STOPPER
- 🔵 Blue (BRANDS WITH BUNNY RABBIT MASCOTS): CADBURY, ENERGIZER, PLAYBOY, TRIX
- 🟣 Purple (WORDS ON AN OLD WEST WANTED POSTER): ALIAS, OUTLAW, REWARD, WANTED
What is NYT Connections?
NYT Connections is a daily word game that gives you 16 words and asks you to group them into four sets of four linked by a common theme. The trick is that words can be distracting or misleading, and some groups are deliberately less obvious than others.
How to play NYT Connections
- Select four words you think form a group and submit them.
- If correct, the words lock into a colored group; if not, you lose a strike on that board.
- Repeat until all words are sorted into the four groups, using deductive elimination to avoid bad guesses.
Past week’s NYT Connections answers
Missed a day? Full solutions from earlier this week, newest first.
Game #1175 — August 29
- 🟡 UNDER THE HOOD OF A CAR: ALTERNATOR, BATTERY, ENGINE, RADIATOR
- 🟢 KINDS OF SALAD: CHOPPED, GREEK, HOUSE, WEDGE
- 🔵 KEYBOARD KEYS: CONTROL, ESCAPE, SHIFT, SPACE
- 🟣 STARTING WITH FIGURES FROM GREEK MYTH: AT LAST, HERALD, HYDRANT, TRITONE
Game #1174 — August 28
- 🟡 BEDTIME PARTING WORDS: NIGHT, REST EASY, SLEEP TIGHT, SWEET DREAMS
- 🟢 PALINDROMES: MOM, NOON, SIS, TOP SPOT
- 🔵 MODERN ADD-ONS/COMBINING FORMS: BRO, CODED, ERA, MAXXING
- 🟣 TOP OF THE ___: HOUR, LINE, MORNING, POPS
Game #1173 — August 27
- 🟡 ELECTRIC THINGS: ELECTRIC EEL, LIGHTNING, LIVE WIRE, PIKACHU
- 🟢 MOVED TO TEARS: CHOKED UP, EMOTIONAL, MISTY, OVERCOME
- 🔵 SHADES OF GRAY: ASH, DOVE, PEWTER, SLATE
- 🟣 MUSIC GENRE PLUS STARTING LETTER: BROCK, NEMO, SPUNK, WRAP
Game #1172 — August 26
- 🟡 “THERE YOU HAVE IT!”: BEHOLD, PRESTO, SHAZAM, VOILÀ
- 🟢 KNACK: FORTE, GIFT, STRENGTH, TALENT
- 🔵 WHAT “P” MIGHT STAND FOR: PAGE, PARK, PHOSPHORUS, PIANO
- 🟣 KEY ___: CHAIN, LARGO, LIME, SIGNATURE
Game #1171 — August 25
- 🟡 SURFACE-LEVEL: COSMETIC, ONE-DIMENSIONAL, SKIN-DEEP, SUPERFICIAL
- 🟢 SCI-FI PHENOMENA: HYPERSPACE, PARALLEL UNIVERSE, TELEPORTATION, TIME WARP
- 🔵 STEPHEN KING FILM ADAPTATIONS, WITH “THE”: GREEN MILE, LONG WALK, RUNNING MAN, SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
- 🟣 ENDING IN ICE CREAM ORDERS: HARLEM SHAKE, INSIDE SCOOP, LICKETY-SPLIT, TRAFFIC CONE
Game #1170 — August 24
- 🟡 FISH: MULLET, PIKE, SOLE, TANG
- 🟢 PRINCIPAL: ARCH, CHIEF, MAIN, PRIME
- 🔵 PRO-WRESTLING LINGO: FACE, HEEL, JOBBER, KAYFABE
- 🟣 LETTER HOMOPHONE PLUS TENNIS TERM: BESET, DESERVE, EX-LOVE, EYELET
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.
