You’re not the only one confused by the orange tiles in today’s Connections grid. The good news is that the puzzle itself can be solved quite easily when you look past the novelty factor. If you’re struggling to find the common themes linking today’s answers, scroll down for some spoiler-free hints. For those who need more help, we’ve provided one word from each category and the official list of themes. If you just want the answers, you can find them at the end of the page. So, without further ado, here are all the hints, clues, and answers to today’s NYT Connections (#1,165, August 19, 2026).
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In This Article
What is Connections?
Connections is one of the most popular word games from The New York Times, only trailing behind Wordle. The rules of the game are simple. You are presented with a 16-word grid where you’re supposed to find the entries that share something in common. There are a total of 4 groups, each consisting of 4 words, that you must find. The Yellow group is the easiest to spot, followed by Green, Blue, and Purple. Sometimes, there are a couple of red herrings to throw you off and make the puzzle more interesting. You can play Connections in the NYT Games app or on the NYT website.
Here’s your grid for today
- PICNIC
- BASKET
- BREEZE
- ANTS
- BLANKET
- COCOA
- PICKLE
- FOOT
- SNAP
- BASE
- MASK
- SEOUL
- OBSCURE
- RHEO
- CINCH
- HIDE
Hints for NYT Connections (#1,165) August 19, 2026
Let’s get you started with some general, spoiler-free hints.
- 🟡Yellow Group: Easy-peasy.
- 🟢Green Group: Cover something and make it harder to find.
- 🔵Blue Group: Names of popular sports minus the common last word.
- 🟣Purple Group: Sound like titles of movies that aren’t live-action.
One Word Per Category (Contains Spoilers)
Can’t seem to find an in? We’ll give you one word from each category.
- 🟡Yellow Group: Breeze.
- 🟢Green Group: Blanket.
- 🔵Blue Group: Base.
- 🟣Purple Group: Ants.
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: Piece Of Cake.
- 🟢Green Group: Conceal.
- 🔵Blue Group: Words Before “Ball” In Sports Names.
- 🟣Purple Group: Homophones Of CGI-Animated Films.
Answers to NYT Connections (#1,165) Today (August 19, 2026)
Close to waving the white flag? Fine, we’ll give you the answers.
- 🟡Yellow Group: Breeze, Cinch, Picnic, Snap. (Piece Of Cake)
These words are used in popular phrases to describe an easy task.
- 🟢Green Group: Blanket, Hide, Mask, Obscure. (Conceal)
These verbs are used to describe the act of hiding something.
- 🔵Blue Group: Base, Basket, Foot, Pickle. (Words Before “Ball” In Sports Names)
Baseball. Basketball. Football. Pickleball.
- 🟣Purple Group: Ants, Cocoa, Rheo, Seoul. (Homophones Of CGI-Animated Films)
Antz (1998). Coco (2017). Rio (2011). Soul (2020).
Answers to yesterday’s puzzle (#1,164, August 18, 2026)
- 🟡Yellow Group: Limousine, Paparazzi, Red Carpet, Velvet Rope. (Seen At A Movie Premiere)
- 🟢Green Group: Petroleum Jelly, Poetic Justice, Practical Joke, Private Jet. (PJs)
- 🔵Blue Group: Basketball, Orangutan, Sweet Potato, Traffic Cone. (Things That Are Orange)
- 🟣Purple Group: Cowboy Coffee, Film Noir, Flyers Mascot, Sandpaper. (Things That Are Gritty)
Answers to NYT Connections #1,163 (August 17, 2026)
- 🟡Yellow Group: Huddle, Meet, Teams, Zoom. (Video Call Platforms)
- 🟢Green Group: Formula, Function, Macro, Script. (Spreadsheet Features)
- 🔵Blue Group: Dolly, Johnny, Patsy, Willie. (First Names Of Country Music Legends)
- 🟣Purple Group: Birdie, Cattle, Dogie, Fisheye. (Starting With Pets)
Answers to NYT Connections #1,162 (August 16, 2026)
- 🟡Yellow Group: Concert, Gig, Set, Show. (Musical Performance)
- 🟢Green Group: Actor, Agent, Party, Player. (Participant)
- 🔵Blue Group: Grand, Great, Half, Step. (Family Relationship Modifiers)
- 🟣Purple Group: From Neander, Handy, Upright, Wise. (Descriptors For Our Human Ancestors)
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How did other solvers do today?
NYT’s early testers rated today’s Connections puzzle 1.3 out of 5. This puts it in the easy difficulty level. Let us know how you fared in the comments!
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