Game #1109 threw a mix of rock trivia, wedding registry staples and a handful of deceptively similar phrases at solvers today. If you breezed through the prog band cluster, congratulations — you did the heavy lifting early.
The rest of the board rewarded pattern-spotting more than domain knowledge: classic gifts and a set of red-hued characters rounded out the grid, while a quartet of rhyming compound phrases proved the trickiest to lock down.
SPOILER WARNING: The next sections name today’s groups and their exact members. If you’re still working, stop here and enjoy the solve.
Today’s NYT Connections words
Here are the 16 words on the board for Game #1109.
- HUMPTY DUMPTY | TOASTER | PINK FLOYD | MONEY
- KOOL-AID MAN | HELTER SKELTER | CHINA | RUSH
- CHICK FLICK | DEADPOOL | LUGGAGE | GENESIS
- CLIFFORD | MUMBO JUMBO | KING CRIMSON | MR. KRABS
Today’s NYT Connections hints
Four spoiler-light nudges to help you sort the grid without giving everything away.
- 🟡 Yellow: Start where musical surnames and famous albums point to a single genre.
- 🟢 Green: Think practical items you’re likely to find on a traditional registry — including something that isn’t wrapped.
- 🔵 Blue: These are all recognizable red figures from pop culture and branding.
- 🟣 Purple: Look for two-word phrases that rhyme or have repeating sounds.
Today’s NYT Connections group titles
- 🟡 Yellow: PROG BANDS
- 🟢 Green: CLASSIC WEDDING GIFTS
- 🔵 Blue: RED CHARACTERS
- 🟣 Purple: RHYMING COMPOUND WORDS
What are today’s NYT Connections answers?
- 🟡 Yellow (PROG BANDS): GENESIS, KING CRIMSON, PINK FLOYD, RUSH
- 🟢 Green (CLASSIC WEDDING GIFTS): CHINA, LUGGAGE, MONEY, TOASTER
- 🔵 Blue (RED CHARACTERS): CLIFFORD, DEADPOOL, KOOL-AID MAN, MR. KRABS
- 🟣 Purple (RHYMING COMPOUND WORDS): CHICK FLICK, HELTER SKELTER, HUMPTY DUMPTY, MUMBO JUMBO
Today’s Connections — expert analysis
The natural entry point was the prog band cluster — PINK FLOYD, RUSH, GENESIS and KING CRIMSON jump out immediately if you skim for proper nouns linked to classic rock. That made an early safe click for many solvers and revealed helpful eliminations across the board.
The toughest set was the purple batch of rhyming compound phrases. HUMPTY DUMPTY and MUMBO JUMBO read like nursery-rhyme or nonsense-phrase entries rather than a clean phonetic pattern, and HELTER SKELTER and CHICK FLICK felt like phrases you’d slot into other loose categories. Red-character overlap also caused friction: CLIFFORD and DEADPOOL are both characters, which can tempt you away from the rhyming pattern, and KOOL-AID MAN and MR. KRABS make an oddly convincing cinematic/mascot group until you notice the shared color theme. Overall difficulty lands slightly above average — one very easy cluster, one straightforward registry set, one obvious color grouping, and one that required mental pattern-matching rather than simple association.
Yesterday’s NYT Connections answers (Game #1108)
Quick recap of yesterday’s groups for anyone tracking streaks or patterns.
- 🟡 Yellow (DANCE STYLES): FOXTROT, MODERN, SWING, TAP
- 🟢 Green (IN A MONOPOLY BOX): DEED, HOTEL, MONEY, TOKEN
- 🔵 Blue (CONTENT SORTING OPTIONS ONLINE): FEATURED, POPULAR, RECENT, TRENDING
- 🟣 Purple (THINGS WITH MANTLES/MANTELS): EARTH, EMPEROR, FIREPLACE, YANKEES
What is NYT Connections?
NYT Connections is a daily word clustering game where players sort 16 given words into four related groups. Each group shares a common theme, and multiple rounds reward both quick associative thinking and pattern recognition.
How to play NYT Connections
- Scan the full board and try to find an obvious group to click first.
- Click the words you think belong together; you must pick four words to reveal a complete group.
- Use eliminations from solved groups to narrow remaining possibilities until all four groups are found.
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.
