NYT Connections Hints & Answers (#1161) – Today's Puzzle, August 15
Today’s NYT Connections Tip
Half these words are secretly hiding a smaller word inside them.
Connections Hint for Each Word Today
Tap any word to see its Connections hint — what it means in today’s puzzle, no spoilers.
GRINCH
GRINCH Connections Hint
The Dr. Seuss Christmas villain — but here, ignore the character entirely and look at the last three letters of the word.
BEANSTALK
BEANSTALK Connections Hint
The giant plant Jack climbs in the fairy tale — but the puzzle is interested in a word hiding at the end of it, not the story.
STAGE
STAGE Connections Hint
A portion of a journey or process — this meaning is very much in play, so think carefully about which group it belongs to.
LANYARD
LANYARD Connections Hint
A cord worn around the neck to hold a badge or keys — look at the last four letters for what this puzzle cares about.
The Dr. Seuss Christmas villain — but here, ignore the character entirely and look at the last three letters of the word.
HIGHTAIL
HIGHTAIL Connections Hint
To hightail it means to leave somewhere very quickly — but a word meaning to follow secretly is hiding inside it.
LEG
LEG Connections Hint
One portion of a longer journey or race — a leg of a relay, a leg of a flight. The journey-portion meaning is active here.
SOUNDTRACK
SOUNDTRACK Connections Hint
The recorded music for a film — but a word meaning to follow secretly is tucked inside this word.
HOTFOOT
HOTFOOT Connections Hint
To hotfoot it means to move somewhere fast — and a unit of length is hiding at the end of this word.
BEAT
BEAT Connections Hint
Can mean exhausted, or a regular patrol route, or a unit in music — more than one meaning is plausible here, which is the point.
STRETCH
STRETCH Connections Hint
A continuous length of road, time, or effort — also a portion of a journey. Think about which group needs it most.
FRIED
FRIED Connections Hint
Slang for completely exhausted — nothing to do with cooking here.
CHAMOMILE
CHAMOMILE Connections Hint
An herb used to make calming tea — and a unit of length is hidden inside the spelling of this word.
SPENT
SPENT Connections Hint
Completely used up, drained of energy — a synonym for exhausted that also means a bullet casing.
EYESHADOW
EYESHADOW Connections Hint
Makeup applied to the eyelid — but a word meaning to follow secretly is concealed inside it.
PHASE
PHASE Connections Hint
A distinct stage or period in a process — very close in meaning to several other words in this grid.
WORN OUT
WORN OUT Connections Hint
Completely exhausted — the most literal and unambiguous of the tiredness synonyms in this grid.
Today’s NYT Connections Hints for All Four Categories
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Yellow Connections Hint Today
Four ways to say you have no energy left. Think: how you feel after a long week
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Green Connections Hint Today
Four words for a distinct portion of a longer journey or process. Think: relay race, project timeline
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Blue Connections Hint Today
Longer words with a measurement of distance hiding at the end. Think: inch, foot, mile, yard
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Purple Connections Hint Today
Longer words with a covert-following verb hidden inside. Think: shadow, tail, track, tail
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.
BEAT can mean a section of a police officer's patrol route, STAGE is a portion of a journey, LEG is a stretch of a race, and STRETCH is a length of road or time — all four feel like they describe portions or sections of something. That reading is a trap for at least some of these words. Not all of them belong in the same group, so check each one carefully before committing.
BEAT, FRIED, and SPENT all mean exhausted in casual speech — you have probably said all three after a long day. The trap is assuming the fourth word in that group is obvious; one of the words that looks like it belongs elsewhere is actually the missing piece here.
These four look like they have nothing in common — a way of moving fast, a Christmas villain, a herbal tea, and a cord for a badge. The surface meanings point in completely different directions. The connection is not about what these words mean but about a specific smaller word hidden at the end of each one.
BEANSTALK is a fairy-tale plant, EYESHADOW is makeup, HIGHTAIL means to flee, and SOUNDTRACK is music for a film — four completely unrelated things on the surface. Like the blue group, the link is a word hidden inside each of them, and the hidden words all belong to the same specific category.
Today’s NYT Connections Answers
Today’s NYT Connections Answers Explained
EXHAUSTED
BEAT, FRIED, SPENT, and WORN OUT are all informal ways of saying completely exhausted — each one describes the feeling of having no energy left.
- BEAT
- Slang for exhausted — 'I'm beat' is a very common way to say you are too tired to do anything else.
- FRIED
- Slang for mentally or physically exhausted — 'my brain is fried' means it has been overworked to the point of shutdown.
- SPENT
- Means completely used up — when applied to a person it means drained of all energy, as in 'I was utterly spent after the race'.
- WORN OUT
- Means exhausted through overuse — the same phrase applies to old shoes and to tired people, both worn down by too much use.
SEGMENT
LEG, PHASE, STAGE, and STRETCH all mean a distinct portion or section of a longer journey, process, or period of time.
- LEG
- One section of a longer journey — the first leg of a flight, the final leg of a relay race.
- PHASE
- A distinct period or step in a process — phase one of a project, the final phase of treatment.
- STAGE
- A defined portion of a journey or process — a stage of the Tour de France, the early stages of a plan.
- STRETCH
- A continuous length or period — a stretch of motorway, a long stretch of cold weather, the final stretch of a race.
ENDING IN UNITS OF LENGTH
CHAMOMILE, GRINCH, HOTFOOT, and LANYARD each end in a standard unit of length — MILE, INCH, FOOT, and YARD respectively.
- CHAMOMILE
- The herbal tea plant ends in MILE — chamo-MILE — a unit of length equal to 1,760 yards.
- GRINCH
- The Seuss villain ends in INCH — gr-INCH — the smallest standard imperial unit of length.
- HOTFOOT
- The phrase meaning to move fast ends in FOOT — hot-FOOT — a unit of length equal to 12 inches.
- LANYARD
- The badge cord ends in YARD — lan-YARD — a unit of length equal to 3 feet.
ENDING IN SYNONYMS FOR FOLLOW SECRETLY
BEANSTALK, EYESHADOW, HIGHTAIL, and SOUNDTRACK each end in a word that means to follow or surveil someone secretly — STALK, SHADOW, TAIL, and TRACK respectively.
- BEANSTALK
- The fairy-tale plant ends in STALK — bean-STALK — to stalk someone means to follow them persistently and secretly.
- EYESHADOW
- The eye makeup ends in SHADOW — eye-SHADOW — to shadow someone means to follow them covertly, as a detective would.
- HIGHTAIL
- The phrase meaning to flee ends in TAIL — high-TAIL — to tail someone means to follow them without being noticed.
- SOUNDTRACK
- The film music ends in TRACK — sound-TRACK — to track someone means to follow their movements, often covertly.
What Makes Today’s NYT Connections Puzzle Tricky?
Words like HOTFOOT, BEANSTALK, LANYARD, and EYESHADOW sit alongside BEAT, LEG, and STAGE — a collision of everyday verbs, body-adjacent nouns, and compound-looking words that share no obvious common register.
The editor's main trick is that several of the longer words contain a hidden smaller word inside them, and the puzzle is really about what is buried in the middle or end — not what the full word means on the surface.
This one is genuinely hard — the two groups built around hidden words require you to stop reading words as whole units, and the two groups of synonyms for tiredness and journey portions both contain words that look like they belong elsewhere.
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.
