Today’s NYT Connections puzzle for August 10, 2026 mixes everyday expressions with event tickets, invoice terminology and a particularly playful final category. Puzzle No. 1156 may look manageable at first, but several answers can point in misleading directions. If you’re stuck, the hints below offer a gentle push before the full answers are revealed.
The hardest connection involves BILLY GOAT, COLONEL SANDERS, DOCTOR STRANGE and THE DEVIL. Their meanings are very different, so the key is to focus on a physical feature commonly associated with all four.
NYT Connections hints for August 10
- Yellow: Expressions for changing direction or trying a different strategy.
- Green: Different ways an event ticket can be delivered or collected.
- Blue: Information commonly displayed on an invoice or bill.
- Purple: Famous figures associated with the same style of facial hair.
Main trap: Several answers are multi-word phrases with unrelated surface meanings. Treat each phrase as a complete unit rather than trying to connect individual words.
Approach clue: Think of expressions used when a plan needs to be changed, adjusted or redirected.
Ticket clue: Imagine buying tickets for a concert, sporting event or theatre performance. Consider the different ways those tickets might reach you.
Invoice clue: Think of the labels commonly shown beside payment amounts, customer information and individual product prices.
Visual clue: The hardest group is not based on definitions. Picture the four figures and focus on the hair around their chins.
Today’s NYT Connections answers
Reveal the Yellow Group
Category: Haphazardly
Answers: ANY OLD HOW, AT RANDOM, HELTER-SKELTER, WILLY-NILLY
All four expressions describe doing something without a clear order, method or plan. At random means without a fixed pattern, while helter-skelter, willy-nilly and any old how all suggest an uncontrolled or loosely organised approach.
Reveal the Green Group
Category: Ways to receive event tickets
Answers: MAIL DELIVERY, MOBILE TICKET, PRINT-AT-HOME, WILL CALL
These are four common ways to receive or collect event tickets. Tickets can be mailed to a customer, delivered digitally to a phone, printed at home or collected from a venue through will call.
Reveal the Blue Group
Category: Sections on an invoice
Answers: BALANCE DUE, BILL TO, ORDER NUMBER, UNIT PRICE
All four phrases commonly appear on invoices. Balance due shows the remaining amount owed, bill to identifies the customer, order number tracks the transaction and unit price gives the cost of an individual item.
Reveal the Purple Group
Category: Famous goatees
Answers: BILLY GOAT, COLONEL SANDERS, DOCTOR STRANGE, THE DEVIL
The connection is their distinctive chin hair. Billy goats are commonly depicted with beard-like hair, Colonel Sanders is remembered for his signature facial hair, Doctor Strange is typically shown with a goatee and traditional portrayals of the devil frequently include one.
Why Connections #1156 was tricky: The puzzle mixes three language-based categories with a purple group that depends on appearance rather than meaning. The four goatee answers look unrelated until they are pictured visually.
The ticket and invoice categories can also overlap conceptually because both involve purchases, orders and transactions. The important distinction is that one group describes ticket-delivery methods, while the other consists of labels printed on a bill or invoice.
Today’s solving lesson: When four remaining answers do not connect through definitions, consider visual traits, shared phrases or cultural associations. Connections often uses this kind of indirect relationship for its hardest category.
Players can attempt the official daily puzzle and review their results on the New York Times Connections page.
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