Today’s Connections puzzle is one of the easiest we’ve seen this month. For starters, it doesn’t delve into super niche topics. You can find easy breakthroughs without exerting yourself. However, if you’re struggling with the puzzle, we’re here to help you out. We’ll give you some general hints at first to help you solve the puzzle on your own. Then, we’ll reveal one word from each category. This will be followed by the list of themes and the answers. So, without further ado, here are all the hints, clues, and answers to today’s NYT Connections (#1,080, May 26, 2026).
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In This Article
What is Connections?
After Wordle, Connections is the New York Times’ most popular word game. The rules are simple. You need to find words with a common theme and group them into 4 groups of 4. The 16-word grid is designed with an increasing level of difficulty. The Yellow group is the easiest to spot, followed by Green, Blue, and Purple. The misdirects and red herrings can trip you up, but they also make the puzzle more fun. You can play Connections in the NYT Games app or on the NYT website.
Some tips to solve Connections
Look for the obvious patterns: Not every category in the puzzle is confusing. The Yellow and Green category words are relatively easy to spot. However, if something seems too obvious, it could be a red herring. Typically, the first two categories comprise verbs and adjectives. The misdirects are often nouns.
Double-check your submissions: ‘Do not overthink’ is usually a good tip for solving most puzzles, but it doesn’t really apply to Connections. Before submitting a set of words, you should always check whether they fit somewhere else too.
Hit a dead end? Use the shuffle button: The shuffle button at the bottom of the grid exists for a reason. Placing the words in different positions can spark new connections. Think of it as a mental refresh. New patterns will emerge, and you may be able to find a breakthrough.
Tackle the Purple category with extra caution: The Connections team is known to serve up the toughest and most unexpected words for the Purple category. Here are some of the common tropes that you should look out for:
- Homophones (For example: ‘Where’, ‘Wear’, ‘Ware’, and ‘Weir’)
- Words within words (For example: ‘Slip’, ‘Hear’, ‘Keyes’, and ‘Undiagnosed’ could be ‘Words containing parts of the face’)
- Words minus a letter (For example: ‘Anther’, ‘Easel’, ‘Hark’, and ‘Lama’ could be ‘Animals minus starting letter’)
- Words preceded or followed by another word (For example: ‘Face’, ‘Sports’, ‘Note’, and ‘Year’ could be ‘____ Book’)
Here’s your grid for today
- BIG
- RING
- TINSEL
- FOCUS
- AIRPLANE
- CUP
- POINT
- SILENT
- LISTEN
- CLUE
- SUBJECT
- TWINS
- PENNANT
- ENLIST
- CONCERN
- MEDAL
Hints for NYT Connections (#1,080) May 26, 2026
Let’s get you started with some general, spoiler-free hints.
- 🟡Yellow Group: What you get after winning a tournament.
- 🟢Green Group: Important topic.
- 🔵Blue Group: Classic flicks.
- 🟣Purple Group: Letters rearranged.
One Word Per Category (Contains Spoilers)
Can’t seem to find an in? We’ll give you one word from each category.
- 🟡Yellow Group: Cup.
- 🟢Green Group: Concern.
- 🔵Blue Group: Airplane.
- 🟣Purple Group: Enlist.
List of Themes (Major Spoilers)
Maybe getting to know the common themes among the words will help you spot them faster. Here are all the categories for today.
- 🟡Yellow Group: Championship Awards.
- 🟢Green Group: Matter At Hand.
- 🔵Blue Group: ‘80s Comedies.
- 🟣Purple Group: Anagrams.
Answers to NYT Connections (#1,080) Today (May 26, 2026)
Close to waving the white flag? Fine, we’ll give you the answers.
- 🟡Yellow Group: Cup, Medal, Pennant, Ring. (Championship Awards)
Pennant may have tripped some folks up, as it is typically associated with flags. In MLB, ‘winning the pennant’ is used in reference to winning the league.
- 🟢Green Group: Concern, Focus, Point, Subject. (Matter At Hand)
This was a simple and straightforward category. All of these words describe a topic, person, situation, or entity that’s the focus of your attention.
- 🔵Blue Group: Airplane, Big, Clue, Twins. (‘80s Comedies)
Another straightforward category. These words describe comedy movies from the 1980s: Airplane (1980), Big (1988), Clue (1985), and Twins (1988).
- 🟣Purple Group: Enlist, Listen, Silent, Tinsel. (Anagrams)
This one required some lateral thinking. The connection became obvious when there were fewer words left in the grid. For those who are still unaware, all of the words in this category contain the same set of letters, making them anagrams of each other.
Answers to yesterday’s puzzle (#1,079, May 25, 2026)
- 🟡Yellow Group: Cap, Pin, Shirt, Sticker. (Common Promo Items)
- 🟢Green Group: Jot, Scrap, Shred, Whit. (Tiny Bit)
- 🔵Blue Group: ATM, CYA, LOL, TIA. (Texting Abbreviations)
- 🟣Purple Group: Ball, Brow, Lash Lid. (Eye ___)
Answers to NYT Connections #1,078 (May 24, 2026)
- 🟡Yellow Group: Coop, Pen, Shed, Stable. (Farm Fixtures)
- 🟢Green Group: March, Picket, Rally, Strike. (Labor Protest Actions)
- 🔵Blue Group: Drum, Mask, Rattle, Staff. (Objects Used In A Ritual Performance)
- 🟣Purple Group: Herb, Hiss, Itsy, Mya. (Possessive Adjectives Plus A Letter)
Answers to NYT Connections #1,077 (May 23, 2026)
- 🟡Yellow Group: Beehive, Bouffant, Chignon, Pompadour. (Hairdos)
- 🟢Green Group: First, Preferably, Rather, Sooner. (More Readily)
- 🔵Blue Group: Daredevil, Hawkeye, Nightcrawler, Wolverine. (Marvel Characters)
- 🟣Purple Group: Empire, Force, Last, Phantom. (Words After ‘The’ In ‘Star Wars’ Movie Titles)
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How did other solvers do today?
NYT’s early testers rated today’s Connection puzzle 1.8 out of 5. This puts it in the easy difficulty level. Let us know how you fared in the comments!
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