NEW YORK – NYT Connections #1181 for September 4, 2026 saved its best trick for the purple group: accessories hidden one layer inside each word, visible only after you strip the first and last letters. The blue group, meanwhile, asks how many eel varieties you actually know. Spoiler: probably not all four.
All Connections Answers – September 4, 2026
| Color | Theme | Answers |
|---|---|---|
| 🟡Yellow | Spherical things | BOWLING BALL, EYE, MOON, ORANGE |
| 🟢 Green | Food whose name is two foods | CAKE DONUT, CANDY CORN, CHERRY TOMATO, PIZZA PIE |
| 🔵 Blue | Kinds of eels | CONGER, GULPER, MORAY, RIBBON |
| 🟣Purple | Accessories inside starting and ending letters | CRINGY, OPINE, STIED, THAT’S |
Today’s Hints (Before the Reveal)
| Group | Hint |
|---|---|
| 🟡 Yellow | Same shape |
| 🟢 Green | Yum! |
| 🔵 Blue | Elongated fish |
| 🟣 Purple | Remove the first and last letter to see the connection |
Group-by-Group Breakdown
Yellow – Spherical things: BOWLING BALL, EYE, MOON, ORANGE. The cleanest category today – round things, nothing disguised. Most players start here.
Green – Food whose name is two foods: Every answer is a compound of two food names sitting inside it: CAKE DONUT, CANDY CORN, CHERRY TOMATO, PIZZA PIE. CHERRY TOMATO catches players who think of it as a single ingredient rather than a pairing. It is both a cherry and a tomato – and that’s precisely the point.
Blue – Kinds of eels: CONGER and MORAY are common knowledge. RIBBON eel is striking enough that hobbyist aquarists recognize it. GULPER eel is the outlier – a deep-sea species whose jaw unhinges to swallow prey larger than its own body. Four genuine eel varieties, one curveball.
Purple – Accessories inside starting and ending letters: Strip the outer letters and the hidden item appears.
| Word | Remove First & Last | Hidden Accessory |
|---|---|---|
| CRINGY | C — — — — Y | RING 💍 |
| OPINE | O — — — E | PIN 📌 |
| STIED | S — — — D | TIE 👔 |
| THAT’S | T — — — S | HAT 🎩 |
NYT Connections resets daily at midnight Eastern Time. Players sort 16 words into four color-coded groups – yellow through purple – with four mistakes allowed before the puzzle closes. Wednesday’s puzzle was more approachable – the NYT Connections answers for September 2 (#1179) are worth a look for comparison. Today’s Wordle answer for September 4 is also available.
