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NYT Connections · #1196

NYT Connections Hints & Answers (#1196) — September 19, 2026

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“Lock in the yellow group first — all four words mean the same everyday thing — then use what's left to untangle the trickier categories.MOD is worth a second look here. It appeared in Connections #406 (Jul 21, 2024) as a math abbreviation, but today it belongs to a very different world.”

NYT Connections hints for September 19, 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 →

1

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 BRANCH OUTLooks like a tree growing; here it's an idiom for trying something new.
2 CARNABY STREETThe West End shopping street that became the fashion capital of 1960s London.
3 COS LETTUCEThe salad leaf whose name opens with COS, short for cosine.
4 DIVERSIFYThe most formal of the four — the word a financial adviser uses.
5 EXPANDTo grow outward in size or scope — the most neutral member of the group.
6 GROWThe simplest word here; no twist, just the plain sense of getting bigger.
7 HOUSEThe boxy building with a triangle roof — the anchor of every kid's scene.
8 LOG CABINThe rustic wooden home that lures you toward house imagery — LOG is short for logarithm.
9 MINISKIRTThe hemline that defined the decade, popularised by designers like Mary Quant.
10 MODThe youth subculture of sharp suits and scooters — not a math term today.
11 SIN CITYLas Vegas's famous nickname; SIN here is the trigonometric abbreviation for sine.
12 STICK FIGUREThe human resident of the scene, drawn with circles and lines.
13 SUNUsually a circle with short lines radiating out, always in the top corner.
14 TAN LINEThe suntan mark that nudges you toward the SUN — TAN is the abbreviation for tangent.
15 TREEA lollipop or triangle of green beside the house — resist pairing it with HOUSE.
16 TWIGGYThe supermodel born Lesley Lawson, the defining face of Swinging London — not a plant adjective.
2

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 do when you stop doing just one thing.
See Group WIDEN ONE'S SCOPE
See WordBRANCH OUT
See WordDIVERSIFY
See WordEXPAND
See WordGROW
See Hint Every crayon masterpiece on a fridge has these.
See Group FEATURES OF A KID'S DRAWING
See WordHOUSE
See WordSTICK FIGURE
See WordSUN
See WordTREE
See Hint London in the sixties had a very specific look.
See Group ASSOCIATED WITH SWINGING LONDON IN THE 1960S
See WordCARNABY STREET
See WordMINISKIRT
See WordMOD
See WordTWIGGY
See Hint A calculator's function keys are hiding at the front.
See Group STARTING WITH ABBREVIATED MATH FUNCTIONS
See WordCOS LETTUCE
See WordLOG CABIN
See WordSIN CITY
See WordTAN LINE
3

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 BRANCH OUT Tap to see why this word traps.
You're probably picturing a tree's branches growing outward, which makes it feel like it belongs with the drawing elements — but it's an idiom meaning to diversify, not a literal plant reference.
2 TWIGGY Tap to see why this word traps.
You're probably reading it as an adjective meaning twig-like or plant-covered, which pulls it toward the botanical words — but the puzzle is using it as a proper name from 1960s British culture.
3 LOG CABIN Tap to see why this word traps.
You're probably thinking of a rustic wooden structure, which nudges it toward the house-and-home territory — but the puzzle is treating the first three letters as a math function abbreviation.
4 TAN LINE Tap to see why this word traps.
You're probably picturing a suntan mark, which loosely connects to the sun — but here the puzzle is using TAN as an abbreviated trigonometric function, not a beach reference.

NYT Connections answers for September 19, 2026

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

Y WIDEN ONE'S SCOPE · Yellow · easiest
  • BRANCH OUT
  • DIVERSIFY
  • EXPAND
  • GROW

BRANCH OUT, DIVERSIFY, EXPAND and GROW all mean to widen your scope or move into new territory. BRANCH OUT is the sneakiest — its literal image of a tree growing pulls many solvers toward the kid's drawing category instead.

G FEATURES OF A KID'S DRAWING · Green · easy
  • HOUSE
  • STICK FIGURE
  • SUN
  • TREE

HOUSE, STICK FIGURE, SUN and TREE are the four staples of a child's simple drawing. The TREE and HOUSE trap is real — TREEHOUSE is a single compound word, so many solvers resist separating them.

B ASSOCIATED WITH SWINGING LONDON IN THE 1960S · Blue · medium
  • CARNABY STREET
  • MINISKIRT
  • MOD
  • TWIGGY

CARNABY STREET, MINISKIRT, MOD and TWIGGY are all icons of Swinging London in the 1960s. TWIGGY is the pivot point — the supermodel's name reads as a plant adjective, which sends solvers down the wrong path.

P STARTING WITH ABBREVIATED MATH FUNCTIONS · Purple · hardest
  • COS LETTUCE
  • LOG CABIN
  • SIN CITY
  • TAN LINE

COS LETTUCE, LOG CABIN, SIN CITY and TAN LINE each begin with an abbreviated math function: cosine, logarithm, sine and tangent. SIN CITY is the most disorienting — its Las Vegas nickname has nothing to do with trigonometry, yet SIN is exactly the abbreviation the puzzle wants.

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