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NYT Connections · #1181

NYT Connections Hints & Answers (#1181) — September 4, 2026

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Earlier Sep 3 This puzzle Sep 4 Later Sep 5

“Lock in the yellow group first, but be ruthless: if a word feels spherical, check whether its name could belong somewhere else entirely before you commit.ORANGE appeared in Connections #1138 (Jul 23, 2026) as part of a spherical things category — and it plays the same role today. RIBBON has appeared many times before, most recently as a pasta shape in Connections #959 (Jan 25, 2026) and as a gift-wrapping item in Connections #947 (Jan 13, 2026). Neither of those is what the puzzle wants from it today.”

NYT Connections hints for September 4, 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 BOWLING BALLThe most obviously spherical thing on the grid — a 16-pound sphere with three finger holes.
2 CAKE DONUTCAKE and DONUT are both foods — this one just stacks them.
3 CANDY CORNCANDY and CORN are both foods; the Halloween association is a red herring.
4 CHERRY TOMATOLooks spherical enough for the yellow group, but CHERRY and TOMATO are each a food in their own right.
5 CONGERA large, thick-bodied eel found in Atlantic and Mediterranean waters.
6 CRINGYReads as a slang word for embarrassing; the hidden accessory is RING, buried in the middle: c-RING-y.
7 EYEThe eyeball is a near-perfect sphere; easy to forget when you're thinking of it as a body part.
8 GULPERA deep-sea eel with a massive, hinged jaw it uses to swallow prey whole.
9 MOONEarth's natural satellite — a rocky sphere, despite looking like a disc from here.
10 MORAYThe toothy eel you've seen lurking in coral reef footage.
11 OPINEReads as a verb meaning to express an opinion; PIN is hiding inside: o-PIN-e.
12 ORANGEA round citrus fruit; also appeared in a spherical things category in Connections #1138 (Jul 23, 2026).
13 PIZZA PIEPIE and PIZZA are both foods — and yes, a pizza is technically a pie.
14 RIBBONReads as a decorative strip, but the ribbon eel is a striking species with a long, flat body.
15 STIEDReads as the past tense of penning animals in a sty; TIE is tucked in the middle: s-TIE-d.
16 THAT'SReads as a plain contraction; HAT is hidden inside: t-HAT-'s.
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 Round, solid, and you could roll every one of them.
See Group SPHERICAL THINGS
See WordBOWLING BALL
See WordEYE
See WordMOON
See WordORANGE
See Hint Each name is a collaboration — two ingredients that never needed each other's help.
See Group FOOD WHOSE NAME IS TWO FOODS
See WordCAKE DONUT
See WordCANDY CORN
See WordCHERRY TOMATO
See WordPIZZA PIE
See Hint These four share a family — long, slippery, and found underwater.
See Group KINDS OF EELS
See WordCONGER
See WordGULPER
See WordMORAY
See WordRIBBON
See Hint Each word is a disguise — peel back the first and last letters and you find something else entirely.
See Group ACCESSORIES INSIDE STARTING AND ENDING LETTERS
See WordCRINGY
See WordOPINE
See WordSTIED
See WordTHAT'S
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 CHERRY TOMATO Tap to see why this word traps.
You're probably thinking of how round and small it is — that's the bait. But the puzzle isn't grouping it by shape; look more carefully at what each word in its name already is on its own.
2 RIBBON Tap to see why this word traps.
You're almost certainly reading this as a decorative strip — something you'd tie around a gift — but the puzzle is using it as a creature, not an object.
3 CRINGY Tap to see why this word traps.
You're reading it as a slang adjective for something embarrassing, but the puzzle is treating it as a container — something is hidden inside the letters.
4 THAT'S Tap to see why this word traps.
You're reading it as a plain contraction, but the puzzle sees it as a hiding place — look at the letters in the middle.

NYT Connections answers for September 4, 2026

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

Y SPHERICAL THINGS · Yellow · easiest
  • BOWLING BALL
  • EYE
  • MOON
  • ORANGE

BOWLING BALL, EYE, MOON and ORANGE are all spherical objects. EYE is the sneakiest — most solvers think of it as a body part or a compound-word starter before the round shape clicks.

G FOOD WHOSE NAME IS TWO FOODS · Green · easy
  • CAKE DONUT
  • CANDY CORN
  • CHERRY TOMATO
  • PIZZA PIE

CAKE DONUT, CANDY CORN, CHERRY TOMATO and PIZZA PIE each have a name built from two separate food words. CHERRY TOMATO is the biggest trap — its small round shape pulls hard toward the spherical group, but CHERRY and TOMATO are both foods on their own.

B KINDS OF EELS · Blue · medium
  • CONGER
  • GULPER
  • MORAY
  • RIBBON

CONGER, GULPER, MORAY and RIBBON are all types of eels. RIBBON is the trap — it reads as a decorative strip or accessory, but the ribbon eel is a real species, known for its vivid blue-and-yellow coloring.

P ACCESSORIES INSIDE STARTING AND ENDING LETTERS · Purple · hardest
  • CRINGY
  • OPINE
  • STIED
  • THAT'S

CRINGY, OPINE, STIED and THAT'S each contain a hidden wearable accessory: c-RING-y, o-PIN-e, s-TIE-d and t-HAT-'s. The mechanic is easy to miss because all four words read naturally as everyday English — a slang adjective, a verb, a past tense, and a contraction.

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