If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Friday, August 7, 2026, read on—I’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solutions to all four categories. Along the way, I’ll explain the meanings of the trickier words and we’ll learn how everything fits together. Beware, there are spoilers below for August 7, NYT Connections #1,153! Read on if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Connections game.
If you want an easy way to come back to our Connections hints every day, bookmark this page. (If you play Wordle or Strands, check out our hints for those games, too.)
Below, I’ll give you some oblique hints at today’s Connections answers. And farther down the page, I’ll reveal the themes and the answers. Scroll slowly and take just the hints you need!
Credit: Connections/NYT
The category types in today’s Connections puzzle
Here are spoiler-free hints that describe the type of each category in today’s Connections:
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Yellow category – Parts of a whole.
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Green category – Related nouns.
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Blue category – Parts of a whole.
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Purple category – Wordplay.
Hints for the themes in today’s Connections puzzle
Here are some spoiler-free hints for the groupings in today’s Connections:
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Yellow category – You might see these at Bath and Body Works.
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Green category – They have a similar temperature.
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Blue category – They help you navigate tall buildings.
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Purple category – They have nature-related words inside.
BEWARE: Spoilers follow for today’s Connections puzzle!
We’re about to give away some of the answers. Scroll slowly if you don’t want the whole thing spoiled. (The full solution is a bit further down.)
A heads up about the tricky parts
WICK, SHAFT, and RAMBO don’t go together as action heroes today.
WICK is a thing you light with a match.
JACKPOT starts with a kangaroo-related word.
What are the categories in today’s Connections?
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Yellow: COMPONENTS OF A CANDLE
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Green: COLD THINGS
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Blue: PARTS OF AN ELEVATOR
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Purple: STARTING WITH MALE ANIMALS
DOUBLE BEWARE: THE SOLUTION IS BELOW
Ready to learn the answers to today’s Connections puzzle? I give them all away below.
What are the yellow words in today’s Connections?
The yellow grouping is considered to be the most straightforward. The theme for today’s yellow group is COMPONENTS OF A CANDLE and the words are: FRAGRANCE, JAR, WAX, WICK.
What are the green words in today’s Connections?
The green grouping is supposed to be the second-easiest. The theme for today’s green category is COLD THINGS and the words are: LIQUID NITROGEN, REFRIGERATOR, SNOW, SUNDAE.
What are the blue words in today’s Connections?
The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is PARTS OF AN ELEVATOR and the words are: BUTTONS, CABLES, MOTOR, SHAFT.
What are the purple words in today’s Connections?
The purple grouping is considered to be the hardest. The theme for today’s purple category is STARTING WITH MALE ANIMALS and the words are: BUCKYBALL, JACKPOT, RAMBO, TOMATILLO.
How I solved today’s Connections
RAMBO and SHAFT could be the names of action heroes. WICK (as in John WICK) could work there too.
SNOW, SUNDAE, LIQUID NITROGEN, and REFRIGERATOR could all be things that are cold. That feels like a strong hit. 🟩
Maybe FRAGRANCE, WAX, WICK, and JAR go together as components of a candle. 🟨
What do you think so far?
TOMATILLO, JACKPOT, and BUCKYBALL could go together as words with names at their starts: Tom, Jack, and Buck.
Maybe JACKPOT, BUCKYBALL, RAMBO, and BUTTONS go together as words with jam or cram verbs at their starts: jack, buck, ram, butt. I’ll try that. “One away.” TOMATILLO must go in there, and maybe BUTTONS is out, because then I’d be left with MOTOR, SHAFT, CABLES, and BUTTONS, which all seem like elevator parts. I’ll try that. 🟦
There we go. That leaves TOMATILLO, RAMBO, JACKPOT, and BUCKYBALL. I’m not sure how TOMATILLO fits in there—is “tom” a verb? 🟪 Oh, “tom” is a cat, “ram” is a sheep, “jack” is a kangaroo, and “buck” is a deer.
Connections
Puzzle #1153
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How to play Connections
I have a full guide to playing Connections, but here’s a refresher on the rules:
First, find the Connections game either on the New York Times website or in their Games app (formerly the Crossword app). You’ll see a game board with 16 tiles, each with one word or phrase. Your job is to select a group of four tiles that have something in common. Often they are all the same type of thing (for example: RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, and SNOW are all types of wet weather) but sometimes there is wordplay involved (for example, BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH are all types of lists: bucket list, guest list, and so on).
Select four items and hit the Submit button. If you guessed correctly, the category and color will be revealed. (Yellow is easiest, followed by green, then blue, then purple.) If your guess was incorrect, you’ll get a chance to try again.
You win when you’ve correctly identified all four groups. But if you make four mistakes before you finish, the game ends and the answers are revealed.
How to win Connections
The most important thing to know to win Connections is that the groupings are designed to be tricky. Expect to see overlapping groups. For example, one puzzle seemed to include six breakfast foods: BACON, EGG, PANCAKE, OMELET, WAFFLE, and CEREAL. But BACON turned out to be part of a group of painters along with CLOSE, MUNCH, and WHISTLER, and EGG was in a group of things that come by the dozen (along with JUROR, ROSE, and MONTH). So don’t hit “submit” until you’ve confirmed that your group of four contains only those four things.
If you’re stuck, another strategy is to look at the words that seem to have no connection to the others. If all that comes to mind when you see WHISTLER is the painting nicknamed “Whistler’s Mother,” you might be on to something. When I solved that one, I ended up googling whether there was a painter named Close, because Close didn’t fit any of the obvious themes, either.
Another way to win when you’re stuck is, obviously, to read a few helpful hints–which is why we share these pointers every day. Check back tomorrow for the next puzzle!
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Connections.
