Todayâs NYT Connections #1203 for September 26 brings a mix of everyday items, laundry terms, wood features and a clever âcoolâ wordplay category.
NYT Connections hints for September 26
- Yellow: Think of things people use to make their breath smell fresher.
- Green: Think about what might happen to a dress shirt when you send it to the laundry.
- Blue: Look for natural characteristics and patterns you might notice in wood.
- Purple: Each word can follow the same adjective in a familiar phrase or expression.
Main trap: SPRAY may send you toward cleaning products, while WASH could seem related to MOUTHWASH. The key is separating products used for freshening breath from actions performed on clothing.
Blue clue: GRAIN and RINGS are useful anchors. Both are recognizable features of wood, which should help point you toward the other two words in the group.
Purple clue: BEANS, CAT, CUCUMBER and CUSTOMER may appear completely unrelated. Try placing the same temperature-related word before each one and listen for familiar expressions.
Todayâs NYT Connections answers
Reveal the Yellow Group
Category: Breath fresheners
Answers: GUM, MINT, MOUTHWASH, SPRAY
All four can be used to freshen your breath. GUM and MINT may be the easiest pair to identify, while MOUTHWASH and SPRAY complete the category.
Reveal the Green Group
Category: Things done to a dress shirt at the laundry
Answers: FOLD, PRESS, STARCH, WASH
Each word describes something that can be done to a dress shirt during laundering or professional cleaning. WASH and FOLD are straightforward, while PRESS and STARCH help confirm the clothing connection.
Reveal the Blue Group
Category: Features of wood
Answers: BURL, GRAIN, KNOTS, RINGS
All four are features associated with wood. GRAIN describes its visible pattern, KNOTS form where branches grew, RINGS can reveal growth over time, and a BURL is an unusual rounded growth on a tree.
GRAIN and RINGS provide the strongest starting clues, while BURL may be the word that makes this group harder to spot immediately.
Reveal the Purple Group
Category: âCoolâ things, in expressions
Answers: BEANS, CAT, CUCUMBER, CUSTOMER
Each answer pairs with âcoolâ in a familiar expression or phrase: cool beans, cool cat, cool as a cucumber and cool customer.
This is the puzzleâs main wordplay category because the four words have little obvious connection until âcoolâ is placed alongside them.
Why todayâs Connections was tricky: The September 26 puzzle mixes everyday breath fresheners and laundry actions with wood terminology and a phrase-based Purple group. SPRAY and WASH can create misleading associations, while BEANS, CAT, CUCUMBER and CUSTOMER only come together once the shared âcoolâ connection is spotted.
Todayâs solving lesson: When four remaining words seem unrelated, test whether they can pair with the same word before or after them. Connections frequently uses familiar phrases and expressions to hide its more difficult categories.
Players can attempt the official daily puzzle and check their results on the New York Times Connections page.
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