NYT Connections #1162 answer & hints: Sunday, August 16, 2026

Updated: Sunday, August 16, 2026 · Hints reviewed by Omer Liban · New puzzle daily at midnight US Eastern Time (5am UK). · Puzzle editor: Wyna Liu.

This page has every level of help for the NYT Connections puzzle #1162 of Sunday, August 16, 2026: 3 spoiler-free hint tiers that narrow things down step by step, followed by the complete answers with explanations — each behind its own tap-to-reveal card.

Stuck on today's Connections? Work through the hint tiers below — each one gives away a little more, so you can get exactly as much help as you want and still keep the win.

New to Connections? The four answer groups are colour-coded by difficulty: 🟡 yellow is the easiest, then 🟢 green, 🔵 blue, and 🟣 purple — the trickiest, usually built on wordplay. The hints below use those colours.

Connections hints (August 16, 2026)

1One word from each group

Yellow (easiest): one of its words is “CONCERT”.
Green (easy): one of its words is “ACTOR”.
Blue (tricky): one of its words is “GRAND”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): one of its words is “FROM NEANDER”.

2Category hints (no answers)

Yellow (easiest): the theme is “Musical performance”.
Green (easy): the theme is “Participant”.
Blue (tricky): the theme is “Family relationship modifiers”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): the theme is “Descriptors for our human ancestors”.

3One full group revealed

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “Musical performance”, and its four words are: CONCERT, GIG, SET, SHOW.

Connections answers — August 16, 2026 (#1162)

★Today's full Connections answers, explained

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “Musical performance”. The words: CONCERT, GIG, SET, SHOW.
Green (easy) — the connection is “Participant”. The words: ACTOR, AGENT, PARTY, PLAYER.
Blue (tricky) — the connection is “Family relationship modifiers”. The words: GRAND, GREAT, HALF, STEP.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay) — the connection is “Descriptors for our human ancestors”. The words: FROM NEANDER, HANDY, UPRIGHT, WISE.

The puzzle, explained

That purple category was a *beast* because each answer is actually the second half of a scientific name—Homo neanderthalensis becomes "FROM NEANDER," Homo habilis becomes "HANDY," Homo erectus becomes "UPRIGHT," and Homo sapiens becomes "WISE." The real trap was that HANDY, UPRIGHT, and WISE all feel like legitimate descriptors that could belong together, especially since they're actual characteristics of early humans, so you'd waste time trying to make that work as a thematic group. GREAT and HALF were the sneakiest bait words since they fit perfectly with the blue category about family relationships, but they were also competing for mental real estate with GRAND and STEP, which made spotting the actual four modifiers trickier than it should've been.

Next in today's routine: Wordle → · every game's answers on one page. New puzzle daily at midnight US Eastern Time (5am UK). Bookmark this page for tomorrow's hints. Or play Connections on the official site.

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Connections — common questions

What time does NYT Connections reset?

A new Connections puzzle is released daily at midnight US Eastern Time — that's 5am in the UK (4am during US daylight-saving transitions) and 12:00am for US East Coast players.

What do the Connections colours mean?

Yellow is the easiest group, then green, then blue, and purple is the trickiest — purple usually involves wordplay such as homophones, hidden words or 'words before/after X'.

How many mistakes are allowed in Connections?

You can make four mistakes before the puzzle ends. If you see 'one away…', exactly three of your four selected words belong together.

Previous Connections puzzles

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