Today’s NYT Connections puzzle for September 1, 2026, is puzzle #1178, with categories built around promises, long and skinny objects, fictional private investigators and words connected by ideas of intention.
NYT Connections hints for September 1
- Yellow: Think about expressions people use when they want someone to believe that they are being completely sincere.
- Green: Look for long, narrow objects that you could easily picture appearing alongside several others of the same general shape.
- Blue: Think about famous fictional detectives and private investigators from mystery novels, television and crime stories.
- Purple: Look closely at the beginnings of the words or phrases. Each one starts with something connected to wanting, hoping or intending to do something.
Promise clue: Look for four expressions that essentially communicate “I promise!” or emphasize that someone is telling the truth.
Shape clue: These are long, skinny things that are often seen together with similar objects.
Detective clue: Search for the names of well-known fictional private investigators or detectives.
Intention clue: The beginning of each answer is related to aim, hope, plan or wish.
Today’s NYT Connections answers
Reveal the Yellow Group
Category: “I promise!”
Answers: CROSS MY HEART, FOR REAL, ON GOD, PINKY SWEAR
All four are expressions used to emphasize sincerity or make a promise. CROSS MY HEART and PINKY SWEAR are familiar ways of pledging that something is true, while FOR REAL and ON GOD can similarly stress that the speaker means what they are saying.
Reveal the Green Group
Category: Long, skinny things often seen together
Answers: ARROW, GOLF CLUB, PICK-UP STICK, SPAGHETTO
These answers are connected by their long, narrow shape and the fact that they are commonly associated with other similar objects. Arrows can appear in a quiver, golf clubs in a set, pick-up sticks in a bundle and spaghetti consists of multiple long strands. SPAGHETTO is the singular form of spaghetti.
Reveal the Blue Group
Category: Private investigators of fiction
Answers: HERCULE POIROT, MIKE HAMMER, SAM SPADE, SHERLOCK HOLMES
All four are famous fictional investigators associated with mystery and detective stories. Hercule Poirot comes from Agatha Christie’s mysteries, Mike Hammer is Mickey Spillane’s hard-boiled detective, Sam Spade is the investigator from Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon, and Sherlock Holmes is Arthur Conan Doyle’s celebrated consulting detective.
Reveal the Purple Group
Category: Starting with words of intention
Answers: AIMEE MANN, HOPE DIAMOND, PLANETARIUM, WISHY-WASHY
Each answer begins with a word connected to intention or desire: AIM appears at the start of AIMEE MANN, HOPE begins HOPE DIAMOND, PLAN starts PLANETARIUM and WISH begins WISHY-WASHY.
Players can attempt the official daily puzzle and check their results on the New York Times Connections page.
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