Almost done with your morning coffee, but can’t find a breakthrough in today’s Connections puzzle? We’ve got you covered. We’ll start off by giving you some spoiler-free hints to nudge you in the right direction. If that doesn’t work, you can have one word from each category. Finally, you can have the official list of themes and answers. So, without further ado, here are all the hints, clues, and answers to today’s NYT Connections (#1,075, May 21, 2026)
In This Article
What is Connections?
Connections is one of the most popular online word games from the New York Times, only trailing behind Wordle. This game presents you with 16 words arranged in a 4×4 grid. Hidden inside the grid are 4 categories, each comprising 4 words. These words have a common ‘connection’, which you must figure out in order to solve the puzzle. The connections get harder to spot with every category. The Yellow group of words is the easiest to spot, followed by Green, Blue, and Purple. There are plenty of misdirects thrown in to 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
- LOVE
- CHESS
- HONEY
- MOON
- PEACH
- HOT
- YELLOW
- PUMPKIN
- ADVANTAGE
- CAN
- PECAN
- COLONEL
- DEUCE
- SHOOFLY
- CABOOSE
- FORTY
Hints for NYT Connections (#1,075) May 21, 2026
Let’s get you started with some general, spoiler-free hints.
- 🟡Yellow Group: Sweet treat.
- 🟢Green Group: Slang terms for a person’s behind.
- 🔵Blue Group: Progression of scoring in a popular sport associated with grand slams.
- 🟣Purple Group: Different varieties of a condiment.
One Word Per Category (Contains Spoilers)
Can’t seem to find an in? We’ll give you one word from each category.
- 🟡Yellow Group: Chess.
- 🟢Green Group: Caboose.
- 🔵Blue Group: Advantage.
- 🟣Purple Group: Colonel.
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: Kinds of Pies.
- 🟢Green Group: Things Associated with Butts.
- 🔵Blue Group: Tennis Scoring Terms.
- 🟣Purple Group: ___ Mustard.
Answers to NYT Connections (#1,075) Today (May 21, 2026)
Close to waving the white flag? Fine, we’ll give you the answers.
- 🟡Yellow Group: Chess, Pecan, Pumpkin, Shoofly. (Kinds of Pies)
Today’s Yellow category wasn’t as easy as it seemed. While these are all popular pies, ‘Moon’ and ‘Peach’ were obvious red herrings to confuse you.
- 🟢Green Group: Caboose, Can, Moon, Peach. (Things Associated with Butts)
Not something you’d expect in Connections, which is why we did a double-take upon spotting these words.
- 🔵Blue Group: Advantage, Deuce, Forty, Love. (Tennis Scoring Terms)
‘Advantage’ and ‘Deuce’ made the presence of a tennis-related category abundantly obvious. ‘Love’ could have been confused with ‘Honey’ as a term of endearment, but ‘Forty’ sealed this group for us.
- 🟣Purple Group: Colonel, Honey, Hot, Yellow. (___ Mustard)
One of the easier Purple category words this week, even though ‘Colonel’ was a wild entry. For those who are unaware, Colonel Mustard is a fictional character from Cluedo.
Answers to yesterday’s puzzle (#1,074, May 20, 2026)
- 🟡Yellow Group: High, Medium, Off, Simmer. (Stove Knob Settings)
- 🟢Green Group: Concentration, Force, Intensity, Might. (Potency)
- 🔵Blue Group: Interval, Key, Mode, Scale. (Music Theory Concepts)
- 🟣Purple Group: Groundhog, Independence, Training, The Longest (“___ Day” Movies)
Answers to NYT Connections (#1,073, May 19, 2026)
- 🟡Yellow Group: Babble, Cry, Nurse, Teethe. (Things Babies Do)
- 🟢Green Group: Alter, Cook, Doctor, Fudge. (Modify Deceptively)
- 🔵Blue Group: Blubber, Deenie, Forever, Superfudge. (Judy Blume Books)
- 🟣Purple Group: Founder, Salon, Surgeon, Trot. (Fish Minus A Letter)
Answers to NYT Connections (#1,072, May 18, 2026)
- 🟡Yellow Group: Pair, Pare, Pear, Pere. (Homphones)
- 🟢Green Group: Blow, Crack, Pop, Split. (Rupture)
- 🔵Blue Group: Padre, Red, Royal, Twin. (MLB Player)
- 🟣Purple Group: Cheap, Earp, Lump, Wiki. (Fruit Anagrams)
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How did other solvers do today?
NYT’s early testers rated today’s Connection puzzle 3 out of 5. This puts it in the hard difficulty level. Let us know how you fared in the comments!
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