Today’s NYT Connections puzzle for August 12, 2026, brings together feelings, frogs, familiar sitcom characters and some clever wordplay. Puzzle #1158 may look straightforward at first, but the purple group is especially easy to miss. Here are spoiler-free hints to help you solve each category before revealing today’s Connections answers.
The trickiest answers are FINE PRINT, GOODBYE, GREAT WHITE and OKAYAMA. They look unrelated at first, but each begins with a word that can be used as an affirmative response.
NYT Connections hints for August 12
- Yellow: Think about continuing to carry or keep an emotion over time.
- Green: These words can all describe familiar varieties of one hopping amphibian.
- Blue: Look for surnames belonging to memorable characters from NBC comedy series.
- Purple: The beginnings of these answers hide different ways of expressing a positive or affirmative response.
Main trap: Several words look like ordinary nouns or names, which can make it difficult to spot the intended relationship without considering phrases, characters and word beginnings.
Feeling clue: Think of verbs used when someone continues to carry, preserve or nurture a particular emotion.
Frog clue: Some answers may look like simple descriptive words on their own, but each can appear before the word “frog.”
Sitcom clue: Focus on well-known characters from NBC comedies, including shows such as Friends, Seinfeld, 30 Rock and The Office.
Wordplay clue: Pay close attention to the opening letters or syllables of the remaining answers. Each begins with a word that can function as an affirmative response.
Today’s NYT Connections answers
Reveal the Yellow Group
Category: Hold onto, as a feeling
Answers: FOSTER, HARBOR, MAINTAIN, NURSE
All four verbs can describe continuing to hold or preserve an emotion. You can foster a feeling, harbor resentment, maintain an attitude or nurse a grievance over time.
Reveal the Green Group
Category: Kinds of frogs
Answers: BULL, GREEN, POISON DART, TREE
Each answer forms the name of a type of frog. There are bullfrogs, green frogs, poison dart frogs and tree frogs.
Reveal the Blue Group
Category: NBC sitcom surnames
Answers: BENES, BING, LEMON, SCOTT
These are surnames of famous television comedy characters: Elaine Benes from Seinfeld, Chandler Bing from Friends, Liz Lemon from 30 Rock and Michael Scott from The Office.
Reveal the Purple Group
Category: Starting with affirmative responses
Answers: FINE PRINT, GOODBYE, GREAT WHITE, OKAYAMA
The trick is hidden at the start of each answer. FINE PRINT begins with “fine,” GOODBYE begins with “good,” GREAT WHITE begins with “great” and OKAYAMA begins with “OK” — all words that can signal agreement or a positive response.
Today’s solving lesson: When the final few Connections words seem completely unrelated, look beyond their full meanings. The puzzle often hides its hardest category inside prefixes, sounds, abbreviations or smaller words embedded within longer answers.
Players can attempt the official daily puzzle and review their results on the New York Times Connections page.
Make Swikblog your go-to source on Google for reliable updates, smart insights, and daily trends.
