NYT Connections · #1174

NYT Connections Hints & Answers (#1174) — August 28, 2026

By Sneha Rajput·August 28, 2026

“When two words feel like an obvious pair, treat that as a warning — the puzzle may be using one of them in a completely different way.MOM appeared in the very first Connections puzzle, Connections #1 (Jun 12, 2023), as a palindrome — and it's back in the same role today.”

NYT Connections hints for August 28, 2026

Three levels of help — a definition for every word, colour-coded group nudges, and a heads-up on the traps. Skip to all answers →

Word clues

A spoiler-free definition for every word in the grid. Tap the eye on any card to reveal which colour-group it belongs to.

1 BROLooks like a sibling term to pair with SIS — actually the second half of 'girl bro', slang for a female friend with a bro-ish vibe.

2 CODED'Girl-coded' means something that feels stereotypically feminine in style or content.

3 ERALooks like a time period — actually 'girl era', slang for a phase of unapologetic self-focus.

4 HOUR'Top of the hour' — the moment a clock hits the exact hour mark, used in broadcasting.

5 LINE'Top of the line' — meaning the best or most premium version of something.

6 MAXXING'Girl maxxing' means leaning fully into femininity — the 'maxxing' suffix signals maximising a trait.

7 MOMA three-letter palindrome — M, O, M — that also appeared in the very first Connections puzzle.

8 MORNINGLooks like a time-of-day word — actually completes 'top of the morning', a traditional Irish greeting.

9 NIGHTShort for 'good night' — the most casual bedtime farewell.

10 NOONLooks like a time of day; the trap is ignoring that N-O-O-N reads identically in both directions.

11 POPS'Top of the Pops' — the long-running BBC chart music show, now a general phrase for chart-toppers.

12 REST EASYA gentle wish for peaceful, untroubled sleep.

13 SISLooks like the sibling partner of BRO — but its letter symmetry is what earns it this group.

14 SLEEP TIGHTA classic bedtime phrase — the 'tight' refers to sleeping soundly, not literally.

15 SWEET DREAMSThe warmest of the four — a wish for pleasant dreams through the night.

16 TOP SPOTThe most surprising entry — a two-word palindrome that reads the same letter-by-letter forwards and backwards.

Group hints

Four colour-coded groups, easiest → hardest. Every button reveals the hint, the category name, or a single word — tap only what you need.

See Hint

What you say right before someone closes their eyes.

See Group

BEDTIME PARTING WORDS

See Word

NIGHT

See Word

REST EASY

See Word

SLEEP TIGHT

See Word

SWEET DREAMS

See Hint

A mirror would find no difference at either end of these.

See Group

PALINDROMES

See Word

MOM

See Word

NOON

See Word

SIS

See Word

TOP SPOT

See Hint

A single word unlocks all four when placed in front.

See Group

MODERN ADD-ONS/COMBINING FORMS

See Word

BRO

See Word

CODED

See Word

ERA

See Word

MAXXING

See Hint

Each one completes a phrase that starts the same way.

See Group

TOP OF THE ___

See Word

HOUR

See Word

LINE

See Word

MORNING

See Word

POPS

Words the puzzle wants you to mis-group

Read these before you guess — they're the words most likely to break a streak. Tap for the trap.

1 BRO Tap to see why this word traps.

You're probably pairing it with SIS as a sibling term — but here it's used as a modern prefix attached to a word you might not expect, not as a family reference.

2 NOON Tap to see why this word traps.

You're probably reading it as a time of day alongside MORNING and HOUR — but the puzzle is using it for a structural property of the word itself, not what it means on a clock.

3 ERA Tap to see why this word traps.

You're probably thinking of it as a span of time, which fits neatly with HOUR and MORNING — but here it's a cultural combining form, not a calendar term.

4 MORNING Tap to see why this word traps.

You're probably grouping it with other times of day — but the puzzle uses it as the second half of a fixed phrase, not a standalone time reference.

NYT Connections answers for August 28, 2026

All four groups revealed, easiest first. Each card holds the theme, the four words, and why the group works.

Y BEDTIME PARTING WORDS · Yellow · easiest

NIGHT
REST EASY
SLEEP TIGHT
SWEET DREAMS

NIGHT, REST EASY, SLEEP TIGHT and SWEET DREAMS are all phrases said to someone at bedtime. NIGHT is the simplest — just the back half of 'good night' — while SWEET DREAMS is the warmest send-off of the four.

G PALINDROMES · Green · easy

MOM
NOON
SIS
TOP SPOT

MOM, NOON, SIS and TOP SPOT all read the same forwards and backwards — they are palindromes. TOP SPOT is the sneakiest because it works as a two-word phrase, not a single word, which most solvers don't expect.

B MODERN ADD-ONS/COMBINING FORMS · Blue · medium

BRO
CODED
ERA
MAXXING

BRO, CODED, ERA and MAXXING all follow the word 'girl' to make current slang terms: girl bro, girl-coded, girl era and girl maxxing. This is the hardest group because none of the four words signal 'girl' on their own.

P TOP OF THE ___ · Purple · hardest

HOUR
LINE
MORNING
POPS

HOUR, LINE, MORNING and POPS all follow 'top of the' to make familiar phrases: top of the hour, top of the line, top of the morning and top of the pops. MORNING is the trickiest — solvers expect it to be a time-of-day word, not the end of an Irish greeting.

Try another puzzle

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Wordle

Today's hint ladder & answer

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Answers, pangram & word list

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