NYT Connections Hints, Answers & Clues -
NYT Connections #1170 Tip
One category is hiding inside four perfectly ordinary words.
What Makes NYT Connections #1170 Tricky?
Words like HEEL, FACE, SOLE, and ARCH look like body parts, MULLET reads as a haircut, PRIME and CHIEF feel like leadership words, and KAYFABE sits there looking like nothing you have ever seen.
The editor's trick is that several words carry a completely different meaning in a specific subculture — and the puzzle uses that hidden meaning, not the obvious one.
This skews hard — one group is approachable, one requires lateral thinking, and the purple category will stop most players cold unless they know the trick.
Connections Hints for Every Word in the August 24, 2026 Puzzle
SOLE
Connections hint for SOLE
A flat saltwater fish — not the bottom of a shoe or the adjective meaning only.
DESERVE
Connections hint for DESERVE
Looks like an ordinary English verb meaning to have earned something — but read it differently and a letter plus a tennis term appears inside it.
MAIN
Connections hint for MAIN
The primary or most important one — a genuine synonym for principal, not the river or the state.
EYELET
Connections hint for EYELET
A small hole reinforced with a ring, used in fabric or shoes — but the puzzle uses a hidden letter-plus-tennis-term reading, not the sewing meaning.
HEEL
Connections hint for HEEL
In pro wrestling, the villain of the story — the bad guy the crowd is supposed to boo, not the back of your foot.
PRIME
Connections hint for PRIME
First in importance or quality — a true synonym for principal, as in prime minister or prime concern.
EX-LOVE
Connections hint for EX-LOVE
Looks like a phrase for a former romantic partner — but the puzzle reads it as a letter name followed by a tennis scoring term.
ARCH
Connections hint for ARCH
Most important or chief — as in arch-rival or arch-enemy, meaning the primary or supreme one. Not the foot structure.
MULLET
Connections hint for MULLET
A real fish — a grey, schooling saltwater fish — not just the haircut.
KAYFABE
Connections hint for KAYFABE
The pro-wrestling practice of presenting scripted events as real — keeping the fictional storyline intact in public.
BESET
Connections hint for BESET
Looks like a common English verb meaning to trouble or surround — but the puzzle reads it as a letter name followed by a tennis scoring term.
PIKE
Connections hint for PIKE
A large freshwater predatory fish — also a weapon and a road, but here it is the fish.
FACE
Connections hint for FACE
In pro wrestling, the hero of the story — the good guy the crowd cheers for, opposite of heel.
TANG
Connections hint for TANG
A saltwater fish popular in aquariums, famously including the blue tang — not the flavour or the drink powder.
CHIEF
Connections hint for CHIEF
The most important person or thing — a direct synonym for principal, as in chief concern or chief editor.
JOBBER
Connections hint for JOBBER
In pro wrestling, a performer whose role is to lose matches in order to make other wrestlers look stronger.
Traps & Misdirects Hints for NYT Connections Puzzle (#1170)
HEEL is the back of your foot, FACE is the front of your head, and SOLE is the bottom of your shoe — grouping them as parts of the foot or body feels completely natural. That body-part reading is a dead end here. Each of these words has a meaning inside a specific performance-based sport that the puzzle is actually using.
ARCH, HEEL, and SOLE are all anatomical parts of the foot — the arch supports the middle, the heel anchors the back, the sole covers the bottom. The foot connection is real but irrelevant here. These three words belong to different categories in this puzzle.
PRIME, CHIEF, MAIN, and ARCH all feel like synonyms for top-ranking or most important — and three of them actually are in the same group. But one of these four belongs somewhere else entirely, so do not lock all four in together before checking each word individually.
MULLET is a famously bad haircut, TANG is a flavour or a powdered drink, and PIKE is a weapon or a road — none of those readings are what is happening here. All three are also fish, and that is the connection the puzzle uses.
Connections Hints for August 24, 2026
Yellow Connections Hints
Yellow Category Hint
Four creatures you might find on a seafood menu
Think: Think: aquarium, fishing rod, market
Yellow Category Name
FISH
Yellow Category Words
Reveal word 1
MULLETReveal word 2
PIKEReveal word 3
SOLEReveal word 4
TANGGreen Connections Hints
Green Category Hint
All mean foremost, leading, or most important
Think: Think: synonyms for number one
Green Category Name
PRINCIPAL
Green Category Words
Reveal word 1
ARCHReveal word 2
CHIEFReveal word 3
MAINReveal word 4
PRIMEBlue Connections Hints
Blue Category Hint
Terms used inside a specific scripted combat sport
Think: Think: ring, storyline, crowd reaction
Blue Category Name
PRO-WRESTLING LINGO
Blue Category Words
Reveal word 1
FACEReveal word 2
HEELReveal word 3
JOBBERReveal word 4
KAYFABEPurple Connections Hints
Purple Category Hint
Each word sounds like a letter name plus a tennis score
Think: Think: spell it out loud
Purple Category Name
LETTER HOMOPHONE PLUS TENNIS TERM
Purple Category Words
Reveal word 1
BESETReveal word 2
DESERVEReveal word 3
EX-LOVEReveal word 4
EYELETNYT Connections Answers for August 24, 2026
NYT Connections Answers Explained: August 24, 2026
FISH
MULLET, PIKE, SOLE, and TANG are all real fish — each word has a more famous non-fish meaning that acts as camouflage, but all four are genuine species.
- MULLET
- A grey schooling fish found in coastal waters worldwide — far less famous than the haircut, which is the decoy.
- PIKE
- A large aggressive freshwater predatory fish with a long snout — also a weapon and a type of road, both red herrings.
- SOLE
- A flat saltwater fish prized in cooking — Dover sole is the classic example — disguised here by its more common meanings.
- TANG
- A saltwater fish common in coral reefs and home aquariums — the blue tang from Finding Nemo is the most recognisable example.
PRINCIPAL
ARCH, CHIEF, MAIN, and PRIME all mean foremost or most important — each is a genuine synonym for principal, though each also carries other common meanings that distract.
- ARCH
- Used as an adjective meaning supreme or chief — an arch-rival is the primary rival, an arch-villain is the foremost villain.
- CHIEF
- The most important or leading one — chief concern, chief editor, chief reason — a direct synonym for principal.
- MAIN
- The primary or most significant one — the main point, the main event — straightforward synonym for principal.
- PRIME
- First in importance or quality — prime minister literally means first minister, and prime concern means the leading concern.
PRO-WRESTLING LINGO
FACE, HEEL, JOBBER, and KAYFABE are all terms from the internal vocabulary of professional wrestling — a world with its own language for roles, characters, and the fiction that holds it together.
- FACE
- Short for babyface — the hero of a wrestling storyline, the performer the crowd is meant to cheer and root for.
- HEEL
- The villain of a wrestling storyline — the performer who plays the bad guy and draws the crowd's boos, opposite of face.
- JOBBER
- A wrestler whose scripted role is to lose matches, making their opponent look dominant and credible to the audience.
- KAYFABE
- The unwritten rule in professional wrestling that performers maintain the fiction of the sport being real — in public, characters stay in character.
LETTER HOMOPHONE PLUS TENNIS TERM
BESET, DESERVE, EX-LOVE, and EYELET each sound like a letter of the alphabet followed by a tennis scoring term — the trick is to say each word aloud and listen for the two parts.
- BESET
- Say it aloud: B + SET — the letter B followed by SET, which is a unit of scoring in tennis.
- DESERVE
- Say it aloud: D + SERVE — the letter D followed by SERVE, the shot that starts each tennis point.
- EX-LOVE
- Say it aloud: X + LOVE — the letter X followed by LOVE, the tennis term for a score of zero.
- EYELET
- Say it aloud: I + LET — the letter I followed by LET, the tennis term for a serve that clips the net and must be replayed.
