Today’s NYT Connections puzzle for September 13, 2026, mixes descriptive words, presidential surnames, letter-sound wordplay and hidden landforms. The biggest challenge is avoiding a convincing cartoon-character trap involving GARFIELD, ODIE and HEATHCLIFF.
The puzzle becomes easier once you stop grouping those familiar names together and instead look at surnames, pronunciation and word endings.
NYT Connections hints for September 13
- Yellow: Words describing something loose, limp or lacking firmness.
- Green: Famous surnames belonging to former U.S. presidents.
- Blue: Say each answer aloud. The pronunciation sounds like a pair of letters.
- Purple: Look at the endings of the words. Each hides the name of a raised landform.
Main trap: GARFIELD, ODIE and HEATHCLIFF strongly suggest cartoon cats and related characters, but they do not belong together in the final solution.
Blue clue: Ignore the normal meanings of EMPTY, EXCESS, KEWPIE and ODIE. Concentrate only on how each word sounds when spoken.
Purple clue: The connection appears at the very end of each answer. Think about PEAK, CLIFF, MOUNT and RIDGE.
Today’s NYT Connections answers
Reveal the Yellow Group
Category: Lacking in firmness
Answers: DROOPY, FLACCID, SAGGING, SLACK
All four describe something that lacks firmness or tension. DROOPY suggests hanging downward, FLACCID means soft or limp, SAGGING describes something sinking under its own weight, and SLACK can mean loose rather than tightly held.
Reveal the Green Group
Category: U.S. presidents
Answers: CLEVELAND, GARFIELD, GRANT, MADISON
Each is the surname of a former U.S. president: Grover Cleveland, James Garfield, Ulysses S. Grant and James Madison.
GARFIELD is the strongest decoy because many players will immediately think of the cartoon cat instead of President James Garfield.
Reveal the Blue Group
Category: Words that sound like two letters
Answers: EMPTY, EXCESS, KEWPIE, ODIE
Each answer sounds like a pair of letters when spoken aloud: EMPTY sounds like MT, EXCESS like XS, KEWPIE like QP and ODIE like OD.
Reveal the Purple Group
Category: Ending in elevated landforms
Answers: DOUBLESPEAK, HEATHCLIFF, PARAMOUNT, PORRIDGE
Each answer ends with the name of an elevated landform: doublesPEAK, heathCLIFF, paraMOUNT and porRIDGE.
Why today’s Connections was tricky: The strongest misdirection comes from GARFIELD, ODIE and HEATHCLIFF, which look as though they belong in a cartoon-character group. The Blue category then shifts from meaning to pronunciation, while Purple relies entirely on hidden endings.
Today’s solving lesson: When a pop-culture group looks almost perfect but does not fully work, test other structures. Connections often uses familiar names to hide categories based on surnames, sounds or smaller words concealed inside longer answers.
Players can attempt the official daily puzzle and check their results on the New York Times Connections page.
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