NYT Connections #1174 answer & hints: Friday, August 28, 2026

Updated: Friday, August 28, 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 #1174 of Friday, August 28, 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 28, 2026)

1One word from each group

Yellow (easiest): one of its words is “NIGHT”.
Green (easy): one of its words is “MOM”.
Blue (tricky): one of its words is “BRO”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): one of its words is “HOUR”.

2Category hints (no answers)

Yellow (easiest): the theme is “Bedtime parting words”.
Green (easy): the theme is “Palindromes”.
Blue (tricky): the theme is “Modern add-ons/combining forms”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): the theme is “Top of the ___”.

3One full group revealed

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “Bedtime parting words”, and its four words are: NIGHT, REST EASY, SLEEP TIGHT, SWEET DREAMS.

Connections answers — August 28, 2026 (#1174)

★Today's full Connections answers, explained

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “Bedtime parting words”. The words: NIGHT, REST EASY, SLEEP TIGHT, SWEET DREAMS.
Green (easy) — the connection is “Palindromes”. The words: MOM, NOON, SIS, TOP SPOT.
Blue (tricky) — the connection is “Modern add-ons/combining forms”. The words: BRO, CODED, ERA, MAXXING.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay) — the connection is “Top of the ___”. The words: HOUR, LINE, MORNING, POPS.

The puzzle, explained

That purple group was a *chef's kiss* of misdirection because "TOP OF THE ___" required you to think of common phrases where "top" is already built in—like "top of the morning" or "top of the hour"—rather than scrambling for words that literally mean "top." The real sneaky part was that "POPS" works as both a word you'd naturally group with things like "CODED" and "MAXXING" in the modern slang category, but it actually completes "top of the pops," the classic British music show. "MORNING" was probably the bait that got you—it seemed like it belonged with all those bedtime sayings (since you're wishing someone goodnight), but nope, it was secretly doing double duty as a "top of the ___" phrase all along.

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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