The NYT Connections answers for Thursday, August 13, 2026, are below. Puzzle #1159 has a Blue group centered on what frequent flyers know well and a Purple category built on a single adjective that never appears on the board: four common English idioms that each pair with the word “cold.” Three hints lead the way for anyone still working through it.
NYT Connections Hints – August 13, 2026
Yellow: These four words or phrases all mean to carry on despite difficulty, the kind of persistence that does not celebrate itself.
Green: Each is a verb for gradual, cautious movement, often used with “up to” to describe approaching something slowly rather than arriving at it.
Blue: Benefits that airlines reserve for their status-tier passengers, the privileges frequent flyers earn through miles or elite membership.
Purple: Each answer, when preceded by the word “cold,” forms a well-known English idiom. The connection is the missing adjective, not the words themselves.
NYT Connections Answers – August 13, 2026 (#1159)
Yellow – Persevere: CARRY ON, CONTINUE, MAKE IT, PERSIST
Green – Move Slowly (Up To): CREEP, EASE, EDGE, INCH
Blue – Airline Status Perks: CHECKED BAGS, LOUNGE, MILES, UPGRADE
Purple – “Cold” Things, In Idioms: COMFORT, FEET, SHOULDER, TURKEY
The Yellow group is today’s most approachable category if the right lens is applied. CARRY ON, CONTINUE, and PERSIST are close to interchangeable, but MAKE IT is the word that causes hesitation. In common use, “make it” signals success. Here the puzzle uses it in the narrower sense of enduring or surviving, as in “she made it through.” That secondary reading is what separates this Yellow from a guaranteed first solve.
Green rewards players who hear the implied “up to” after each answer. To CREEP up to something, EASE up to it, EDGE toward it, INCH forward, all four describe slow, deliberate movement rather than arrival. CREEP is the most likely source of misfires: it reads as a noun before it reads as a motion verb, and solvers may route it elsewhere until the category logic is established.
Blue is the most context-specific category in today’s puzzle. CHECKED BAGS, LOUNGE, MILES, and UPGRADE are all standard benefits airlines offer to elite status members: free checked luggage, airport lounge access, accelerated miles earning, and complimentary or discounted seat upgrades. The dangerous decoy is COMFORT. Economy comfort, premium comfort, and comfort class are real airline product tiers, and COMFORT feels like a natural fit for the Blue group. It belongs in Purple instead.
Purple is where today’s puzzle hides its difficulty. COMFORT, FEET, SHOULDER, and TURKEY look completely unrelated until the missing word arrives: cold comfort, cold feet, cold shoulder, cold turkey. All four are embedded idioms across different registers. Cold feet describes anxiety or reluctance before a commitment. Cold turkey refers to abrupt withdrawal without tapering. Cold shoulder is a deliberate act of social dismissal. Cold comfort is reassurance so thin it offers no real relief. Four idioms, four registers, one missing adjective.
Yesterday’s puzzle is covered in the NYT Connections answers for August 12, 2026 (#1158).
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