A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Sunday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Sunday, July 26 (game #1141).

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #1142) - today's words

Today's NYT Connections words are…

  • CART
  • HORSE
  • CARROT
  • STICK
  • KNITTING NEEDLE
  • MAGNIFYING GLASS
  • BEAM
  • GRAVEYARD
  • BELL
  • ICICLE
  • RINGS
  • HEART
  • PARADIGM
  • STALACTITE
  • DOPPLER
  • VAULT

NYT Connections today (game #1142) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

  • YELLOW:Equipment used by Simone Biles and co
  • GREEN:Thin and skinny
  • BLUE:A word that rhymes with “lift” in common
  • PURPLE:As seen whilst making a purchase

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

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NYT Connections today (game #1142) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

  • YELLOW:GYMNASTICS APPARATUS
  • GREEN:LONG TAPERED THINGS
  • BLUE:KINDS OF SHIFTS
  • PURPLE:ICONS ON A SHOPPING SITE

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #1142) - the answers

The answers to today's Connections, game #1142, are…

  • YELLOW: GYMNASTICS APPARATUS:BEAM, HORSE, RINGS, VAULT
  • GREEN: LONG TAPERED THINGS:CARROT, ICICLE, KNITTING NEEDLE, STALACTITE
  • BLUE: KINDS OF SHIFTS:DOPPLER, GRAVEYARD, PARADIGM, STICK

  • PURPLE: ICONS ON A SHOPPING SITE:BELL, CART, HEART, MAGNIFYING GLASS

  • My rating:Hard

  • My score:Perfect

I managed to get through today’s game without making any mistakes but I am still classing it as a tricky game.

The reason for this is that I got extremely lucky once the game got down to eight tiles; unable to find a group, I just went with the four tiles that were in a line.

GRAVEYARD shift and PARADIGM shift I may have got, but DOPPLER and STICK needed a Google. Meanwhile, perhaps I do not do enough online shopping but CART aside the other three icons didn’t trigger me to connect them.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Sunday, July 26, 2026, game #1141)

  • YELLOW: BABY MILESTONES:CRAWLING, FIRST WORDS, ROLLING OVER, SOLID FOOD
  • GREEN: OUTMODED CONSUMER TECH:BLACKBERRY, DISCMAN, DVD PLAYER, PLASMA TV
  • BLUE: EXPRESSIONS FOR RAIN:APRIL SHOWERS, LIQUID SUNSHINE, SCOTCH MIST, WET WEATHER
  • PURPLE: WHAT "SHELL" MIGHT REFER TO:CARAPACE, GAS STATION, PASTRY CRUST, ROWING BOAT

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

Johnny is a freelance pop culture journalist who has been writing about the internet, music, football and famous people since the iPhone was just a twinkle in Steve Jobs' eye. Previously known by the pseudonym the Pop Detective, his journalistic career began making up stories about Madonna's addiction to sausage rolls (this is not true by the way). A man of few talents, his career is rich and various and includes the highs of interviewing Elton John and Blur; and the lows of interviewing Right Said Fred, appearing on a Channel 5 documentary about Peter Kay, and fact-checking the instruction manual for a German cooker. Somehow still affording to live in North London he is at his happiest riding his bicycle and shouting at pigeons.