The NYT Connections answers for Saturday, August 1, 2026 (game #1147) are below. If you want to solve the puzzle yourself first, here are three hints.
Hint 1: The Yellow group belongs on a bed.
Hint 2: The Green group are surnames shared by men who have won Academy Awards since 2010.
Hint 3: The Purple group is today’s main trap – each word looks like it belongs somewhere else entirely until you notice what it begins with.
All NYT Connections Answers for August 1, 2026 (#1147)
Yellow – Bedding: COMFORTER, SHAM, SHEET, THROW
The easiest group today. All four are items used on a bed: the comforter as the main insulating layer, a sham as a decorative pillowcase cover, the sheet as the primary linen, and a throw as the lightweight blanket draped across the foot of the bed. SHAM is the minor trap here, since it more commonly means a fraud or deception, but its bedding meaning is standard.
Green – Oscar-Winning Actors Since 2010: BALE, JORDAN, PHOENIX, WALTZ
Four surnames of Academy Award-winning actors: Christian Bale (Best Supporting Actor, The Fighter), Michael B. Jordan, Joaquin Phoenix (Best Actor, Joker), and Christoph Waltz (Best Supporting Actor, Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained). The trap is PHOENIX, which solvers may associate with the Arizona city or the mythological bird before the Oscar connection surfaces. WALTZ looks like the dance, JORDAN like the country or the river.
Blue – Perform Some Hole Machining Operations: BORE, COUNTERSINK, DRILL, REAM
All four are manufacturing processes for creating or finishing holes in material: to drill is to cut a hole with a rotating bit; to bore is to enlarge or refine an existing hole to precise dimensions; to ream is to finish a drilled hole to exact diameter using a reamer tool; to countersink is to cut a conical recess at the entrance of a hole so that a screw head sits flush with the surface. BORE and DRILL are everyday words, but REAM and COUNTERSINK require some familiarity with machining or woodworking to place correctly.
Purple – Starting With Bread Shapes: BOULEVARD, BUNDLE, LOAFER, ROLLS-ROYCE
Today’s hardest group and the one responsible for most incorrect first guesses. Each word begins with a bread shape: BOULEVARD starts with BOULE (a round French country loaf), BUNDLE starts with BUN, LOAFER starts with LOAF, and ROLLS-ROYCE starts with ROLLS. On first read, these look like a street, a package, a shoe, and a car – there is no obvious surface-level connection. The solve requires stepping back from what the words mean and focusing instead on what their opening letters spell.
For more Connections solutions, see NYT Connections #1146 for July 31, 2026 and NYT Connections #1144 for July 29, 2026.
