NYT Connections #1169 answer & hints: Sunday, August 23, 2026

Updated: Sunday, August 23, 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 #1169 of Sunday, August 23, 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 23, 2026)

1One word from each group

Yellow (easiest): one of its words is “POWDER KEG”.
Green (easy): one of its words is “ANTIFREEZE”.
Blue (tricky): one of its words is “HOME FRIES”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): one of its words is “BAKING SODA”.

2Category hints (no answers)

Yellow (easiest): the theme is “Potentially explosive things”.
Green (easy): the theme is “Double vowels”.
Blue (tricky): the theme is “Made with potatoes”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): the theme is “Household stain removers”.

3One full group revealed

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “Potentially explosive things”, and its four words are: POWDER KEG, TIME BOMB, TINDERBOX, VOLCANO.

Connections answers — August 23, 2026 (#1169)

★Today's full Connections answers, explained

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “Potentially explosive things”. The words: POWDER KEG, TIME BOMB, TINDERBOX, VOLCANO.
Green (easy) — the connection is “Double vowels”. The words: ANTIFREEZE, BAZAAR, SKIING, VACUUM.
Blue (tricky) — the connection is “Made with potatoes”. The words: HOME FRIES, POTATO BATTERY, VISCHYSSOISE, VODKA.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay) — the connection is “Household stain removers”. The words: BAKING SODA, CLUB SODA, HYDROGEN PEROXIDE, VINEGAR.

The puzzle, explained

The purple category's genius is that it disguises household stain removers as completely different things—BAKING SODA and CLUB SODA sound like they belong in the kitchen or at a party, HYDROGEN PEROXIDE feels medical, and VINEGAR just seems like a condiment. The real trap was the blue group about potato-based items, which could easily steal VODKA (made from potatoes) and especially VISCHYSSOISE (a potato soup), but also had POTATO BATTERY tempting you to think about science experiments. HOME FRIES was the anchor that should've locked in that blue category once you realized it wasn't literally *made of* potatoes but rather *prepared from* them, which helped separate it from the stain removers doing actual chemical cleaning work.

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

Full Connections archive (137 puzzles) → · How to play Connections (and win more) →