If today’s New York Times Connections grid has you burning through your mistakes, you are not alone. Puzzle #1142 features some heavy misdirection, with several words seemingly fitting into a medical or general object 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 Bell and Cart look like an obvious match for a school or travel theme, but committing to that group early will cost you chances. We recommend sorting words by their use case first. Separating items used in sports from things found online will make the remaining words much easier to place.
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): Equipment used in artistic and athletic gymnastics.
- 🟩 Green Group Hint (Medium): Objects or natural formations that narrow down to a point at one end.
- 🟦 Blue Group Hint (Hard): Terms that describe a shift, change, or way of doing something.
- 🟪 Purple Group Hint (Tricky): Symbols you will usually see at the top of an online store page.
Stuck on one word? If you have Stick, try looking at it as a term for a type of change rather than just an object. It belongs to the harder Blue group today!
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: Beyond this point lies the full solution for Puzzle #1142. If you still want to solve the grid yourself using the clues above, do not scroll down.
NYT Connections Answers Today: Monday July 27, 2026
Here are the completed categories and groupings for today’s puzzle:
🟨 Yellow Group: Gymnastics Apparatus
- Beam
- Horse
- Rings
- Vault
🟩 Green Group: Long Tapered Things
- Carrot
- Icicle
- Knitting Needle
- Stalactite
🟦 Blue Group: Kinds Of Shifts
- Doppler
- Graveyard
- Paradigm
- Stick
🟪 Purple Group: Icons On A Shopping Site
- Bell
- Cart
- Heart
- Magnifying Glass
Previous Answer
NYT Connections Answer for July 26, 2026 (Puzzle #1141): Baby Milestones, Outmoded Consumer Tech, Expressions For Rain, What “Shell” Might Refer To
Daily NYT Puzzle Hub
Keep your winning streak alive across the entire NYT Games ecosystem. Check out our daily guides for today’s other popular puzzles:
- Wordle Hints and Answer Today: Wordle Hints & Answer Today: July 27, 2026 (Puzzle #1864)
- NYT Strands Hints & Answers Today: NYT Strands Hints, Spangram & Answers Today: July 27, 2026 (Puzzle #876)
Join the Discussion
Did today’s puzzle give you a perfect start, or did the trickier categories slow you down? Share your results grid or talk about which group was the hardest to figure out in the comments below!
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