NYT Connections Hints, Answers & Clues -
NYT Connections #1173 Tip
Four Pokémon characters are hiding in four completely different groups.
What Makes NYT Connections #1173 Tricky?
PIKACHU, BROCK, MISTY, and ASH all share a very famous connection — and the editor has deliberately placed each of them into a completely different category.
The trick is that every word in this grid has a plausible everyday meaning, a pop-culture meaning, or both, and the puzzle exploits whichever one you reach for first.
This one is hard — one group is a clean solve the moment you spot the wordplay, but the Pokémon trap will burn a mistake for almost every player who doesn't see it coming.
Connections Hints for Every Word in the August 27, 2026 Puzzle
PIKACHU
Connections hint for PIKACHU
Ash's electric mouse Pokémon — famous for generating electricity, which is what matters here, not the franchise.
SPUNK
Connections hint for SPUNK
Means courage or spirit in everyday English — but strip the first letter and a music genre appears inside.
NEMO
Connections hint for NEMO
The clownfish from Finding Nemo — but the puzzle isn't interested in the film; look at what's hiding inside the word itself.
DOVE
Connections hint for DOVE
A gentle white or gray bird — and a recognised name for a soft, muted shade of gray.
MISTY
Connections hint for MISTY
A Pokémon gym leader and a common English adjective meaning hazy — here it describes eyes filled with tears, not fog.
SLATE
Connections hint for SLATE
A dark blue-gray rock used for roofing and writing boards — one of the cooler, darker shades of gray.
LIGHTNING
Connections hint for LIGHTNING
A bolt of electricity from the sky — one of the most powerful natural electrical phenomena.
ASH
Connections hint for ASH
The gray powder left after something burns — and a Pokémon protagonist, but here it is the color, not the character.
PEWTER
Connections hint for PEWTER
A dull silver-gray metal alloy — and a shade of gray named after it. Also a Pokémon city, but that's a decoy.
BROCK
Connections hint for BROCK
A Pokémon gym leader and a word for a badger — but strip the first letter and a music genre is hiding inside.
EMOTIONAL
Connections hint for EMOTIONAL
Feeling things deeply and visibly — the most straightforward word in the moved-to-tears group.
LIVE WIRE
Connections hint for LIVE WIRE
A wire carrying active electrical current — also slang for an energetic person, but the electrical meaning is what counts here.
OVERCOME
Connections hint for OVERCOME
Overwhelmed by emotion to the point of losing composure — overcome with grief, overcome with joy.
ELECTRIC EEL
Connections hint for ELECTRIC EEL
A freshwater fish that generates strong electric shocks to stun prey — genuinely electric, not just named for it.
WRAP
Connections hint for WRAP
To cover or enclose something — but strip the first letter and a music genre is hiding at the start.
CHOKED UP
Connections hint for CHOKED UP
When emotion tightens your throat and you can barely speak — the most physical description of being moved to tears.
Traps & Misdirects Hints for NYT Connections Puzzle (#1173)
PIKACHU is Ash's partner Pokémon, MISTY is the Cerulean City gym leader, ASH is the protagonist, and BROCK is the Pewter City gym leader — four main characters from the same franchise, and grouping them together feels completely natural. That grouping is wrong. Each of these four words belongs to a different category, and none of them are grouped together here.
ASH is the residue left after burning, DOVE is a bird, and SLATE is a rock — three things you might loosely associate with nature or earth tones. That natural-world reading leads nowhere. All three are shades of gray, and the fourth gray shade is hiding behind a different surface meaning entirely.
SPUNK means courage or spirit, WRAP means to cover something, NEMO is the Disney fish, and BROCK is a badger or a Pokémon character — none of these obviously belong together. The connection is structural, not semantic: each word contains a music genre with one letter added to the front, and you have to strip that first letter away to see it.
Connections Hints for August 27, 2026
Yellow Connections Hints
Yellow Category Hint
Things that generate or carry real electrical charge
Think: Think: voltage, current, shock
Yellow Category Name
ELECTRIC THINGS
Yellow Category Words
Reveal word 1
ELECTRIC EELReveal word 2
LIGHTNINGReveal word 3
LIVE WIREReveal word 4
PIKACHUGreen Connections Hints
Green Category Hint
All mean visibly overwhelmed by emotion
Think: Think: crying, throat tight, eyes wet
Green Category Name
MOVED TO TEARS
Green Category Words
Reveal word 1
CHOKED UPReveal word 2
EMOTIONALReveal word 3
MISTYReveal word 4
OVERCOMEBlue Connections Hints
Blue Category Hint
Names for specific muted shades between white and black
Think: Think: paint swatches, overcast sky
Blue Category Name
SHADES OF GRAY
Blue Category Words
Reveal word 1
ASHReveal word 2
DOVEReveal word 3
PEWTERReveal word 4
SLATEPurple Connections Hints
Purple Category Hint
Each word becomes a music genre when you drop the first letter
Think: Think: hidden genre, one letter off
Purple Category Name
MUSIC GENRE PLUS STARTING LETTER
Purple Category Words
Reveal word 1
BROCKReveal word 2
NEMOReveal word 3
SPUNKReveal word 4
WRAPNYT Connections Answers for August 27, 2026
NYT Connections Answers Explained: August 27, 2026
ELECTRIC THINGS
ELECTRIC EEL, LIGHTNING, LIVE WIRE, and PIKACHU are all things associated with real or fictional electrical power — each one either generates electricity, carries it, or is defined by it.
- ELECTRIC EEL
- A South American freshwater fish that generates electric shocks of up to 600 volts to stun prey and navigate — genuinely electric, not just named for it.
- LIGHTNING
- A massive electrostatic discharge between clouds and the ground — one of the most dramatic natural electrical events.
- LIVE WIRE
- A wire carrying active electrical current that is dangerous to touch — also slang for an energetic person, but the electrical meaning is the one used here.
- PIKACHU
- The iconic Electric-type Pokémon who generates and fires bolts of electricity — the Pokémon connection is a trap, but the electric connection is genuine.
MOVED TO TEARS
CHOKED UP, EMOTIONAL, MISTY, and OVERCOME all describe the state of being so affected by feeling that you are on the verge of tears — each word captures a different physical or emotional aspect of that moment.
- CHOKED UP
- When emotion tightens the throat so much that speaking becomes difficult — the most physically specific description in the group.
- EMOTIONAL
- Visibly affected by strong feelings — the broadest and most direct word in the group, meaning you are not hiding what you feel.
- MISTY
- As in misty-eyed — eyes filled with tears that haven't fallen yet, giving everything a blurred, hazy look. The Pokémon gym leader is the trap.
- OVERCOME
- Overwhelmed by emotion to the point of losing composure — overcome with grief or overcome with joy both describe the same loss of control.
SHADES OF GRAY
ASH, DOVE, PEWTER, and SLATE are all recognised names for specific shades of gray — each borrowed from a real-world material or creature whose color became iconic enough to name a hue.
- ASH
- The pale, slightly warm gray of wood ash — lighter and softer than most other gray shades, and a Pokémon protagonist name used as a decoy.
- DOVE
- The soft, warm light gray of a dove's feathers — slightly warmer and more muted than pure gray.
- PEWTER
- The dull silver-gray of the metal alloy pewter, used historically for plates and cups — a cooler, more metallic gray. Pewter City in Pokémon is an additional decoy.
- SLATE
- The dark blue-gray of slate rock, used for roofing tiles and old writing boards — one of the darker, cooler shades of gray.
MUSIC GENRE PLUS STARTING LETTER
BROCK, NEMO, SPUNK, and WRAP each hide a music genre inside them — remove the first letter of each word and you get ROCK, EMO, PUNK, and RAP.
- BROCK
- Remove the B and you get ROCK — the guitar-driven genre. BROCK is also a Pokémon character, which is the surface-level trap.
- NEMO
- Remove the N and you get EMO — the emotionally intense rock subgenre. NEMO is also the Disney-Pixar clownfish, which is the surface-level trap.
- SPUNK
- Remove the S and you get PUNK — the raw, fast, anti-establishment rock genre. SPUNK on its own means courage or spirit.
- WRAP
- Remove the W and you get RAP — the hip-hop vocal genre. WRAP on its own means to cover or enclose something.
