If today’s New York Times Connections grid has you burning through your mistakes, you are not alone. Puzzle #1186 features some heavy misdirection, with several words seemingly fitting into a technology or movie theme before pulling the rug out from under you.
Here are helpful hints to guide you through today’s puzzle, with the full answers listed further down.
Today’s Connections Strategy & Commentary
Watch out for the red herrings today. At first glance, words like Minivan and Picosecond look like they belong together as measurements or units, while It and Saw could easily be sorted as verbs rather than horror films. Committing to those wrong groups early will cost you chances.
We recommend looking at the pattern for each category first. Checking whether a phrase describes something difficult to figure out, shares a prefix meaning small, refers to a scary movie, or pairs with the word force will make the remaining words much easier to sort.
Connections Hints Today: Category Clues
If you just need a nudge to get your brain moving in the right direction, here are clues for the four color-coded groups:
- 🟨 Yellow Group Hint (Easiest): Describes something very hard to understand or explain.
- 🟩 Green Group Hint (Medium): Each word starts with a prefix that means tiny or very small.
- 🟦 Blue Group Hint (Hard): Famous scary or horror movies.
- 🟪 Purple Group Hint (Tricky): Each word can be followed by the word force to make a common phrase or term.
Stuck on one word? If you have Esoteric, think obscure knowledge rather than something magical. It belongs to the Yellow group today!
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: The full answers are listed below. If you still want to solve the grid yourself using the clues above, do not scroll down.
NYT Connections Answers Today for September 9, 2026, Wednesday Puzzle #1186
Here are the completed categories and groupings for today’s puzzle:
🟨 Yellow Group: HARD TO UNDERSTAND
- Bewildering
- Esoteric
- Incomprehensible
- Opaque
🟩 Green Group: WORDS WITH SMALL PREFIXES
- Microbrewery
- Minivan
- Nanotechnology
- Picosecond
🟦 Blue Group: HORROR MOVIES
- Arachnophobia
- Halloween
- It
- Saw
🟪 Purple Group: WORDS BEFORE FORCE
- Brute
- Electromagnetic
- G
- Task
Yesterday’s Answer
This is yesterday’s NYT Connections answer for September 8, 2026, Puzzle #1185.
🟨 Yellow Group: CLASSIC AMERICAN PERFORMANCE CARS
🟩 Green Group: FEATURES OF A MIME COSTUME
🟦 Blue Group: __ HEART
🟪 Purple Group: CANDY BARS PLUS A LETTER
For older solutions, see our Connections answers archive.
How did you do?
Did today’s puzzle give you a perfect Reverse Rainbow or did the tricky categories wipe out your board?
Share your results grid or vent about today’s trickiest crossover words in the comments below.
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