NYT Connections returns with puzzle #1194 for 17 September 2026, and today’s grid features a category that film fans may spot straight away. The daily word game challenges players to sort 16 words into four groups of four, with each set sharing a hidden link.
The difficulty lies in the overlap. Words are chosen so they could plausibly belong to more than one group, meaning the obvious answer is often a trap. Working through the puzzle carefully, rather than jumping at the first apparent match, tends to produce better results.
Hints for today’s Connections groups
Below are four hints for the groupings in today’s puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group through to the trickier purple group.
Yellow group hint: Stretches.
Green group hint: Not on the surface.
Blue group hint: He played Jean Valjean.
Purple group hint: Not hate.
Today’s Connections answers
If you would rather see the full solutions, here are the four completed groups and the words in each.
The yellow group theme is elasticity, and the four answers are bounce, flexibility, give and spring.
The green group theme is things that are underground, and the four answers are mine shaft, sewer line, subway station and well.
The blue group theme is Hugh Jackman films, with “The”. The four answers are Fountain, Prestige, Sheep Detectives and Wolverine.
The purple group theme is love __, and the four answers are handles, language, tap and triangle.
How Connections works
Each Connections puzzle presents a grid of 16 words, and the aim is to identify four words that share a connection, repeating the process until all 16 are grouped. Associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu selects words that could fit into multiple categories, which is what makes the game so testing.
The New York Times also runs a Connections Bot, similar to the Wordle equivalent, which provides a numeric score and analyses your answers once you have finished playing. Players registered with the Times Games section can track their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, their win rate, the number of perfect scores achieved and their current winning streak.
Alongside Connections, daily hints and answers are also available for the Mini Crossword, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands. Today’s Wordle puzzle is #1916, while the Strands puzzle is #928 and the Connections: Sports Edition puzzle is #724, all for 17 September.
