NYT Connections Hints & Answers (#1159) – Today's Puzzle, August 13
Today’s NYT Connections Tip
One category hides inside another's obvious decoy.
Connections Hint for Each Word Today
Tap any word to see its Connections hint — what it means in today’s puzzle, no spoilers.
COMFORT
COMFORT Connections Hint
As in cold comfort — a phrase meaning something that offers little real consolation. Not about physical coziness here.
EASE
EASE Connections Hint
To ease into a parking spot or ease through a gap — moving carefully and gradually, not quickly.
SHOULDER
SHOULDER Connections Hint
As in cold shoulder — the act of deliberately ignoring someone. Not a body part or a road edge here.
INCH
INCH Connections Hint
To inch forward — moving in tiny increments, the way traffic crawls. The distance is almost irrelevant; the slowness is the point.
As in cold comfort — a phrase meaning something that offers little real consolation. Not about physical coziness here.
MILES
MILES Connections Hint
Frequent flyer miles — the points you accumulate with an airline that can be redeemed for flights or upgrades.
CARRY ON
CARRY ON Connections Hint
To carry on means to keep going despite difficulty — not the bag you bring onto the plane, even though that reading is very hard to ignore.
FEET
FEET Connections Hint
As in cold feet — the sudden loss of nerve before doing something important. Not a unit of measurement.
CHECKED BAGS
CHECKED BAGS Connections Hint
Luggage you hand over at the airport counter rather than taking on board — elite airline status often means you check them for free.
CREEP
CREEP Connections Hint
To creep up on something — moving so slowly and quietly that the movement is almost imperceptible.
TURKEY
TURKEY Connections Hint
As in cold turkey — quitting something abruptly and completely, with no gradual reduction. Not the bird or the country.
UPGRADE
UPGRADE Connections Hint
Moving from economy to a better cabin class — a classic airline status perk that elite members receive when seats are available.
MAKE IT
MAKE IT Connections Hint
To make it through — to survive or succeed despite obstacles. The emphasis is on getting through, not arriving somewhere.
PERSIST
PERSIST Connections Hint
To persist is to keep going in the face of resistance or difficulty — the most straightforwardly on-theme word in the puzzle.
EDGE
EDGE Connections Hint
To edge toward something — moving sideways or cautiously in very small steps, the way you'd move along a narrow ledge.
LOUNGE
LOUNGE Connections Hint
The airport lounge — the quiet, comfortable waiting area that airline status holders can access before their flight.
CONTINUE
CONTINUE Connections Hint
To continue is simply to keep doing what you were doing — the most neutral synonym for perseverance in the grid.
Today’s NYT Connections Hints for All Four Categories
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Yellow Connections Hint Today
Synonyms for keeping going despite difficulty. Think: push through, don't quit
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Green Connections Hint Today
Verbs meaning to advance very gradually toward something. Think: slow crawl, tiny steps
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Blue Connections Hint Today
Benefits that come with elite frequent flyer status. Think: airport, loyalty rewards
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Purple Connections Hint Today
Words that complete a familiar phrase when COLD comes first. Think: hidden shared prefix
Traps & Misdirects Hints for Today’s Connections Puzzle
Today’s Connections puzzle includes words intentionally placed to misdirect you into wrong groups. These traps and misdirects hints reveal which words are designed to mislead, so you don’t burn your 4 allowed mistakes on deliberate decoys.
CARRY ON is what you bring onto a plane, MILES are frequent flyer points, and UPGRADE is the dream of moving to business class — the airline category writes itself. Only two of these three actually belong in the airline group, and CARRY ON is doing something completely different here.
CARRY ON, CONTINUE, and PERSIST all mean to keep going and feel like obvious synonyms — but the puzzle uses exactly this assumption to misdirect you, so confirm each word individually before locking in.
COMFORT, SHOULDER, and TURKEY each pair with the same hidden word to complete a familiar idiom — the challenge is that nothing on the surface connects them, so this group is easy to miss entirely.
EASE, INCH, and EDGE do belong together, but confirming the fourth member of that group requires you to think about slow movement rather than the word's most common meaning.
Today’s NYT Connections Answers
Today’s NYT Connections Answers Explained
PERSEVERE
CARRY ON, CONTINUE, MAKE IT, and PERSIST all mean to keep going in the face of difficulty — the category is about perseverance, and CARRY ON is the deliberate trap because its airline meaning is so much louder than its motivational one.
- CARRY ON
- To carry on means to continue despite hardship — the phrase is used this way constantly in British English especially, but the airline bag meaning drowns it out for most players.
- CONTINUE
- The most neutral word in the group — to continue is simply to keep doing what you were already doing, without stopping.
- MAKE IT
- To make it means to survive or succeed against the odds — there is an implication of difficulty overcome, which is why it fits perseverance rather than just arrival.
- PERSIST
- To persist is to keep going in the face of resistance or repeated failure — the most explicitly on-theme word in this category.
MOVE SLOWLY (UP TO)
CREEP, EASE, EDGE, and INCH all describe moving toward something in very small, careful increments — each word implies deliberate slowness rather than speed.
- CREEP
- To creep up to something is to approach so slowly and quietly that the movement is almost undetectable — think of a cat stalking prey.
- EASE
- To ease into a space is to move gently and gradually — you ease a car into a tight parking spot, or ease yourself into cold water.
- EDGE
- To edge toward something is to move sideways in tiny steps — the way you'd shuffle along a narrow ledge or inch past someone in a crowded row.
- INCH
- To inch forward is to advance in the smallest possible increments — the word borrows from the unit of measurement to convey just how little ground is being covered.
AIRLINE STATUS PERKS
CHECKED BAGS, LOUNGE, MILES, and UPGRADE are all benefits associated with elite frequent flyer status — the rewards airlines give their most loyal customers.
- CHECKED BAGS
- Elite status holders typically check luggage for free — a perk that saves money and hassle compared to what regular passengers pay.
- LOUNGE
- Access to the airline's private lounge before a flight — a quieter, more comfortable space with food and seating, reserved for status holders and business class passengers.
- MILES
- Frequent flyer miles are points earned on flights that can be redeemed for future travel — accumulating them is the core mechanic of airline loyalty programmes.
- UPGRADE
- A complimentary move to a higher cabin class — elite members are prioritised for upgrades when better seats are available at departure.
"COLD" THINGS, IN IDIOMS
COMFORT, FEET, SHOULDER, and TURKEY all complete a familiar English idiom when the word COLD is placed in front — cold comfort, cold feet, cold shoulder, and cold turkey.
- COMFORT
- Cold comfort means something that is technically reassuring but offers very little real consolation — as in 'knowing others have it worse is cold comfort.'
- FEET
- Cold feet means a sudden loss of nerve or confidence before doing something important — getting cold feet before a wedding is the classic example.
- SHOULDER
- A cold shoulder is deliberate social snubbing — ignoring someone as a way of showing disapproval or hostility.
- TURKEY
- Cold turkey means quitting something addictive abruptly and completely, with no gradual reduction — going cold turkey on cigarettes, for example.
What Makes Today’s NYT Connections Puzzle Tricky?
CARRY ON, MILES, COMFORT, and TURKEY share a grid with CREEP, EDGE, PERSIST, and LOUNGE — a collision of travel jargon, motivational language, and words that feel like they belong in a self-help book.
The editor's main trick is that several words have a strong obvious meaning that belongs to a completely different category than the one they actually sit in.
Medium difficulty overall — one group is a genuine aha moment once you see it, but two groups share vocabulary that will keep pulling you back to wrong answers.
How to Use Connections Hints
Everyone playing NYT Connections puzzle gets stuck at a different point. Some players can’t figure out a single word. Others have three groups solved and can’t find the fourth. Where you are stuck determines which connection hint you need. So if you are stuck in today’s puzzle, find your situation in the sections below, use the recommended Connections hint, and continue solving. You don’t need to reveal more than what gets you past the point where you are stuck.
A word in the puzzle has an unfamiliar meaning
Some words in today’s NYT Connections puzzle are uncommon. Connections editor Wyna Liu often uses words with specific or less familiar meanings, particularly in the green, blue, and purple categories. If you don’t know what a word means, you cannot reliably place it in a group.
Use the Word Hint. It tells you what the word means in the context of today’s puzzle. Tap any word directly on the board above to see its hint. Each word opens a small card with its puzzle-specific connections hint.
No groups are forming after reading all sixteen words
The connection between words is often not obvious from their meanings alone — categories are built around themes that require a specific angle to see. These category-level clues are the most useful hints for connections that aren’t coming together from word meanings alone.
Use the Category Hint. It points you toward the theme of a category without revealing the category name or which words belong to it. In the All Hints section, tap “Yellow Category Hint” first. Read it before revealing anything else. Yellow is the easiest category by design.
You have a possible group but aren’t ready to guess
You think four words belong together but you’re not confident enough to guess. If you’re unsure, don’t guess yet — a wrong guess costs you one of your four mistakes.
Use the Category Name. It reveals the exact name of the category without showing you which words belong to it. If your group belongs to that category, guess with confidence. If it doesn’t, you’ve saved a mistake. In the All Hints section, tap “Yellow Category Name” — or whichever colour you are testing. The name appears immediately below the hint.
One word seems to fit more than one group
You have built a group of four words but one word in it could also fit somewhere else. NYT Connections editor Wyna Liu deliberately places misleading words on the board that seem to fit multiple categories. These are the most common source of wrong guesses in today’s connections puzzle.
Use the Traps and Misdirects Hints. It identifies the specific misleading words in today’s puzzle and explains why they don’t belong where you think they do. Go to the Traps and Misdirects section and look for the word that is bothering you.
You know the category but can’t find all four words
You have identified the theme of a category but can’t find all four words that belong to it.
Use the Word Reveal. It uncovers one masked word at a time without revealing the full group. This is the most precise connection hint available — it gives you exactly one word without touching the rest of the puzzle. In the All Hints section, find the colour category you have identified. Tap “Category Words” to open the reveal panel, then tap “Reveal word 1” — one word at a time until your group is complete.
One mistake left with two groups unsolved
You have one mistake remaining and two groups unsolved. If you guess wrong here, the game ends and NYT reveals all the answers automatically.
Do not guess yet. Use the Category Name for both remaining groups first. If the category names still don’t resolve it, use the Word Reveal to uncover one or two words causing the split. In the All Hints section, tap the Category Name for both remaining colours. If that is still not enough, tap “Category Words” and reveal one word at a time until the correct split is clear.
You want today’s answers without solving the puzzle
Use the Answers section. It shows all four category names and the four words that belong to each one. Go to the Answers section.
The puzzle is over but a category still doesn’t make sense
You can see the four groups and their words but the connection between them isn’t clear.
Use the Answer Explanation. It tells you exactly what connects the words in each category and why each individual word belongs there. This is particularly useful for the purple category, where the connection is almost never straightforward. Go to the Answer Explanation section.
