If today’s New York Times Connections grid has you burning through your mistakes, you are not alone. Puzzle #1167 features some heavy misdirection, with several words seemingly fitting into a food or tech theme before pulling the rug out from under you.
Below are strategic, spoiler-free hints to help you group today’s words on your own, followed by the exact categories and answers at the bottom of the page.
Today’s Connections Strategy & Commentary
Watch out for the red herrings today. At first glance, words like Oxygen and Water look like they belong in a general science or nature category, while Karate and Comeback could easily be mistaken for sports or entertainment terms. Committing to those wrong groups early will cost you lives.
We recommend looking at the less obvious categories first, especially the Blue group. It relies on common two-word phrases rather than literal meaning, and that will help you clear the board much faster.
AConnections 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): Essential things nearly all animals must have to stay alive.
- 🟩 Green Group Hint (Medium): Phrases spoken to signal the start of a show or performance.
- 🟦 Blue Group Hint (Hard): Each word completes the phrase “_ Kids” from a well-known name or title.
- 🟪 Purple Group Hint (Tricky): Each word completes the common idiom “Once in a _.”
Stuck on one word? If you have Curtain Up, try thinking about what you say before a performance starts rather than what it literally means. It might belong to the Green 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 August 21, 2026, Friday Puzzle #1167
Here are the completed categories and groupings for today’s puzzle:
🟨 Yellow Group: Things Most Animals Need
- Nutrition
- Oxygen
- Sleep
- Water
🟩 Green Group: Calls To Begin A Performance
- Action
- Curtain Up
- Places
- Showtime
🟦 Blue Group: _ Kids
- Comeback
- Karate
- Sundance
- Wimpy
🟪 Purple Group: Once In A _
- Blue Moon
- Generation
- Lifetime
- While
Yesterday’s Answer
This is yesterday’s NYT Connections answer for August 20, 2026, Puzzle #1166.
🟨 Yellow Group: Kinds Of Pizza
- Diavola
- Hawaiian
- Meat Lovers
- White
🟩 Green Group: Kinds Of Numbers
- Atomic
- Serial
- Social Security
- Telephone
🟦 Blue Group: Similarly Shaped Typographical Marks
- Apostrophe
- Cedilla
- Comma
- Okina
🟪 Purple Group: Starting With Chinese Zodiac Animals
- Dragonfly
- Oxford
- Pigment
- Ratchet
For a complete list, visit our Connections archive.
Try Today’s Other NYT Games Solutions
Keep your winning streak alive across the entire NYT Games ecosystem. Check out our daily guides for today’s other popular puzzles like Wordle and NYT Strands solutions.
Did today’s puzzle give you a perfect Reverse Rainbow or did the red herrings wipe out your board?
Share your results grid or vent about today’s trickiest crossover words in the comments below!
