Game #1149 — August 3 brings a Connections board that looks like a neighborhood map collided with a thesaurus. The 16 words on today’s NYT Connections puzzle are a tidy mix of obvious road signs, leafy colours and a couple of orthographic oddities.
If you cleared the streets quickly, the puzzle still reserves a sting in the tail: one group hides its link at the start of each answer rather than in the whole word. Pay attention to prefixes and weird spellings.
SPOILER WARNING: Below are full spoilers for NYT Connections Game #1149 (2026-08-03). If you haven’t finished today’s puzzle and want to play it yourself first, stop reading now.
Today’s NYT Connections words
Here are the 16 words on the board, shown in the order they appeared.
- NEEDLESS | MYRRH | BACKSTREET | TEA SET
- NSYNC | SAGE | FLY BY | NAG CHAMPA
- MINT | BYWAY | BUG FIX | RHYTHM
- FOREST | LANE | HUNTER | ALLEY
Today’s NYT Connections hints
Four spoiler-light hints to nudge you in the right direction without giving the game away.
- 🟡 Yellow: All four are types of streets or less-travelled routes.
- 🟢 Green: Each word names or strongly evokes a shade of green.
- 🔵 Blue: These entries contain no traditional vowels — Y is the only vowel present.
- 🟣 Purple: Every answer begins with a short word that means to bother or annoy.
Today’s NYT Connections group titles
The four official group titles for Game #1149.
- 🟡 Yellow: ROAD LESS TRAVELED
- 🟢 Green: SHADES OF GREEN
- 🔵 Blue: “Y” IS THE ONLY VOWEL
- 🟣 Purple: STARTING WITH SYNONYMS FOR “PESTER”
What are today’s NYT Connections answers?
Here’s the official grouping of the 16 words from Game #1149.
| Colour | Group | Words |
|---|---|---|
| 🟡 Yellow | ROAD LESS TRAVELED | ALLEY, BACKSTREET, BYWAY, LANE |
| 🟢 Green | SHADES OF GREEN | FOREST, HUNTER, MINT, SAGE |
| 🔵 Blue | “Y” IS THE ONLY VOWEL | FLY BY, MYRRH, NSYNC, RHYTHM |
| 🟣 Purple | STARTING WITH SYNONYMS FOR “PESTER” | BUG FIX, NAG CHAMPA, NEEDLESS, TEA SET |
Today’s Connections — expert analysis
The natural entry point was the Yellow set — ALLEY, BACKSTREET, BYWAY and LANE are blunt, literal street words and stand out immediately. If you opened with any of those you were rewarded fast; the puzzle even lists this group as the easiest.
The hardest cluster was Purple — STARTING WITH SYNONYMS FOR “PESTER” — because the nuisance words sit at the start of multiword answers, not as standalone entries. BUG FIX and NAG CHAMPA are recognisable once you spot the pattern, but NEEDLESS and TEA SET are the tricksters: they read as ordinary words/phrases and don’t scream “annoy” until you notice the prefix pattern. Other sticky decoys included MINT and SAGE, which tempted players toward culinary or herbal themes before the colours connection (FOREST, HUNTER) clicked, and BACKSTREET and BYWAY, which look like near synonyms and can slow you down if you lock on to only one possible road-theme pairing.
If you’re stuck early, make a safe play on the Yellow road set — LANE or ALLEY are low-risk picks — or hunt the Blue orthography group via obvious entries like RHYTHM or NSYNC; those spellings are rare enough to be dependable anchors.
Difficulty: 3.5/5 — one subtle, prefix-based group made this tougher than it first appears.
Yesterday’s NYT Connections answers (Game #1148)
For reference, here are the four groups from Game #1148.
- 🟡 Yellow (FILLER WORDS): ACTUALLY, LIKE, SO, WELL
- 🟢 Green (BY MEANS OF): BY, PER, THROUGH, VIA
- 🔵 Blue (“___ MODE”): AIRPLANE, BEAST, DARK, À LA
- 🟣 Purple (U.S. AIRPORT CODES PLUS STARTING LETTER): ASEA, FLAX, LORD, OLGA
What is NYT Connections?
NYT Connections is a daily word game that asks players to group 16 seemingly unrelated words into four sets of four. The challenge is to spot the hidden link connecting each quartet — it might be semantic, orthographic, a shared prefix or something trickier.
How to play NYT Connections
- Scan the 16 words and look for obvious groups (themes, spellings, prefixes).
- Select four words you think form a group; correct groups lock in the answers.
- Repeat until all four groups are found — you have limited guesses, so use safe, distinctive anchors first.
Past week’s NYT Connections answers
Missed a day? Full solutions from earlier this week, newest first.
Game #1147 — August 1
- 🟡 BEDDING: COMFORTER, SHAM, SHEET, THROW
- 🟢 OSCAR-WINNING ACTORS SINCE 2010: BALE, JORDAN, PHOENIX, WALTZ
- 🔵 PERFORM SOME HOLE MACHINING OPERATIONS: BORE, COUNTERSINK, DRILL, REAM
- 🟣 STARTING WITH BREAD SHAPES: BOULEVARD, BUNDLE, LOAFER, ROLLS-ROYCE
Game #1146 — July 31
- 🟡 CONSTRUCT: FASHION, MODEL, MOLD, SHAPE
- 🟢 SUPER MARIO FIGURES: DINOSAUR, MUSHROOM, PLUMBER, PRINCESS
- 🔵 FRUITS PLUS STARTING LETTER: DAPPLE, JDATE, SLIME, SPEAR
- 🟣 STARTING WITH MERRIMENTS: CHEERIOS, FUNGUS, GLEEK, JOYSTICK
Game #1145 — July 30
- 🟡 VIRTUOUS: FAIR, GOOD, JUST, RIGHT
- 🟢 ACTIVITIES WITH MULTIPLE BALLS: BEER PONG, BINGO, JUGGLING, POOL
- 🔵 CRUISE LINES: CARNIVAL, CELEBRITY, PRINCESS, VIKING
- 🟣 ON THE ___, TO MEAN “PRECISE”: DOT, MARK, MONEY, NOSE
Game #1144 — July 29
- 🟡 FASTENERS: NAIL, RIVET, SCREW, STAPLE
- 🟢 NONDESCRIPT: BASIC, MID, PLAIN, VANILLA
- 🔵 UNITS OF WISDOM: GEM, NUGGET, PEARL, WORD
- 🟣 ___BOARDS IN A CLASSROOM: BLACK, CHALK, CORK, WHITE
Game #1143 — July 28
- 🟡 COMMAND: CAPTAIN, DIRECT, HEAD, LEAD
- 🟢 HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM APPLES: EMPIRE, FUJI, GALA, HONEYCRISP
- 🔵 SHOE BRANDS STARTING WITH “C”: CAMPER, CLARKS, CONVERSE, CROCS
- 🟣 STARTING WITH PALINDROMIC NAMES: ANNAPOLIS, BOBSLED, EVEREST, OTTOMAN
Game #1142 — July 27
- 🟡 GYMNASTICS APPARATUS: BEAM, HORSE, RINGS, VAULT
- 🟢 LONG TAPERED THINGS: CARROT, ICICLE, KNITTING NEEDLE, STALACTITE
- 🔵 KINDS OF SHIFTS: DOPPLER, GRAVEYARD, PARADIGM, STICK
- 🟣 ICONS ON A SHOPPING SITE: BELL, CART, HEART, MAGNIFYING GLASS
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.
