NYT Connections Hints, Answers & Clues -
NYT Connections #1140 Tip
Three currencies and a family reunion are hiding in plain sight.
What Makes NYT Connections #1140 Tricky?
KWANZA looks like Kwanzaa the holiday, RAND sounds like a name, LEONE could be a person, WELL and TEAR feel like everyday English, and STEAK and CLUB seem to belong in a restaurant or gym — this grid collides geography, family vocabulary, card games, and bodily reactions in a way that makes almost nothing feel certain.
The editor's main trick is that several words only reveal their true meaning when you add two letters after them — and without that addition, they look like completely unrelated vocabulary.
This one is genuinely hard — one group may click quickly if you speak Spanish, but the other three require you to set aside the most obvious reading of each word and look for a hidden layer.
Connections Hints for Every Word in the July 25, 2026 Puzzle
STEAK
Connections hint for STEAK
A cut of beef — but here it follows STRIP to form a well-known steakhouse chain name.
LEONE
Connections hint for LEONE
Could sound like an Italian name, but this is the official currency of Sierra Leone in West Africa.
PRIMO
Connections hint for PRIMO
Spanish for cousin — a male first-degree cousin, used as a family term of address.
MALL
Connections hint for MALL
A shopping centre — but here it follows STRIP to form STRIP MALL, a row of shops in a parking lot.
MADRE
Connections hint for MADRE
Spanish for mother — a direct, everyday family term, not slang.
MIST
Connections hint for MIST
Thin water vapour — but MIST UP means for eyes to fill with tears, the first sign of crying.
POKER
Connections hint for POKER
A card game played with chips and bluffing — but here it follows STRIP to form STRIP POKER, the clothing-removal version of the game.
CHOKE
Connections hint for CHOKE
To block an airway — but CHOKE UP means to become so emotional that your voice breaks and tears threaten.
CLUB
Connections hint for CLUB
A nightclub or social organisation — but here it follows STRIP to form STRIP CLUB, an adult entertainment venue.
RAND
Connections hint for RAND
Sounds like a surname, but the RAND is the official currency of South Africa.
TEAR
Connections hint for TEAR
As a noun it is a teardrop; as a verb it means to rip — but TEAR UP means to start crying, eyes filling with tears.
NAIRA
Connections hint for NAIRA
The official currency of Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa.
HIJO
Connections hint for HIJO
Spanish for son — a direct family term for a male child.
KWANZA
Connections hint for KWANZA
Looks almost identical to Kwanzaa the holiday, but KWANZA is the official currency of Angola — spelled with one A.
WELL
Connections hint for WELL
A water well, or an adjective meaning healthy — but WELL UP means for tears to rise in the eyes before crying begins.
ABUELA
Connections hint for ABUELA
Spanish for grandmother — a warm, familiar family term.
Traps & Misdirects Hints for NYT Connections Puzzle (#1140)
KWANZA looks exactly like Kwanzaa the December holiday, LEONE sounds like a person's name, and RAND is a common English surname — grouping them as proper names feels natural. That reading is wrong for all three. Each of these is the official currency of an African nation, and the puzzle uses that meaning exclusively.
WELL and TEAR both look like plain English words — WELL as in a water well or feeling well, TEAR as in a rip or a teardrop noun. Neither of those is what is happening here. Both words are verbs that, when followed by the word UP, describe the moment someone starts to cry.
POKER is a card game and CLUB is a place you go dancing — pairing them as nightlife or gambling words feels logical. That connection is a dead end. Both words can follow STRIP to form a compound phrase, and that is the only sense the puzzle uses.
STEAK and MALL look like they belong in completely different categories — food and shopping — so players often set them aside as outliers. Both actually follow STRIP to form a familiar compound, and neither belongs to the food or shopping groups.
Connections Hints for July 25, 2026
Yellow Connections Hints
Yellow Category Hint
Four Spanish words for members of your family
Think: Think: family tree, Spanish class
Yellow Category Name
SPANISH RELATIVES
Yellow Category Words
Reveal word 1
ABUELAReveal word 2
HIJOReveal word 3
MADREReveal word 4
PRIMOGreen Connections Hints
Green Category Hint
Add UP after each word and you get emotional
Think: Think: eyes filling, voice breaking
Green Category Name
START TO CRY, WITH "UP"
Green Category Words
Reveal word 1
CHOKEReveal word 2
MISTReveal word 3
TEARReveal word 4
WELLBlue Connections Hints
Blue Category Hint
Official money of four African nations
Think: Think: exchange rate, continent
Blue Category Name
AFRICAN CURRENCIES
Blue Category Words
Reveal word 1
KWANZAReveal word 2
LEONEReveal word 3
NAIRAReveal word 4
RANDPurple Connections Hints
Purple Category Hint
Each word completes a two-word phrase starting with STRIP
Think: Think: what follows STRIP
Purple Category Name
STRIP ___
Purple Category Words
Reveal word 1
CLUBReveal word 2
MALLReveal word 3
POKERReveal word 4
STEAKNYT Connections Answers for July 25, 2026
NYT Connections Answers Explained: July 25, 2026
SPANISH RELATIVES
ABUELA, HIJO, MADRE, and PRIMO are all Spanish words for family members — grandmother, son, mother, and cousin — everyday vocabulary in Spanish that happens to look foreign or decorative to English eyes.
- ABUELA
- Spanish for grandmother — the female parent of one of your parents, a warm and widely recognised Spanish family word.
- HIJO
- Spanish for son — a male child, and also used as a term of affection meaning kid or my boy.
- MADRE
- Spanish for mother — the direct, standard word for mom, used across all Spanish-speaking countries.
- PRIMO
- Spanish for cousin — specifically a male cousin, and also used informally as a friendly address meaning buddy or cuz.
START TO CRY, WITH "UP"
CHOKE, MIST, TEAR, and WELL all become phrases meaning to start crying when you add UP after them — choke up, mist up, tear up, and well up each describe a different physical sign that tears are coming.
- CHOKE
- CHOKE UP means to become so overcome with emotion that your throat tightens and your voice breaks — the feeling just before crying.
- MIST
- MIST UP means for your eyes to fill with a thin film of tears, blurring your vision — the earliest visible sign of crying.
- TEAR
- TEAR UP means for tears to form and fill the eyes — distinct from full crying, it is the moment the tears arrive.
- WELL
- WELL UP means for tears to rise in the eyes as emotion builds — as in tears welled up, the same verb used in the worked example but here in a completely different category.
AFRICAN CURRENCIES
KWANZA, LEONE, NAIRA, and RAND are the official currencies of four African nations — Angola, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and South Africa respectively — each disguised behind a familiar-looking word.
- KWANZA
- The official currency of Angola — spelled with one A, unlike the holiday Kwanzaa which has two, making it an easy word to misread.
- LEONE
- The official currency of Sierra Leone in West Africa — the country and its currency share the same name, which itself comes from Portuguese for lion.
- NAIRA
- The official currency of Nigeria, introduced in 1973 — the name is derived from a shortening of Nigeria.
- RAND
- The official currency of South Africa — named after the Witwatersrand, the gold-bearing ridge on which Johannesburg was built.
STRIP ___
CLUB, MALL, POKER, and STEAK each follow the word STRIP to form a familiar two-word compound — strip club, strip mall, strip poker, and strip steak — four very different phrases united only by that one preceding word.
- CLUB
- STRIP CLUB is an adult entertainment venue where performers remove clothing — the most adult-coded phrase in the group.
- MALL
- STRIP MALL is a row of retail shops built in a line along a road, typically with a parking lot in front — a very common American commercial format.
- POKER
- STRIP POKER is a version of the card game where losing players remove an item of clothing instead of paying chips.
- STEAK
- STRIP STEAK is a cut of beef from the short loin — also called a New York strip — a standard steakhouse menu item.
