NYT Connections #1176 answer & hints: Sunday, August 30, 2026

Updated: Sunday, August 30, 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 #1176 of Sunday, August 30, 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 30, 2026)

1One word from each group

Yellow (easiest): one of its words is “GYMNASIUM”.
Green (easy): one of its words is “AERATOR”.
Blue (tricky): one of its words is “CADBURY”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): one of its words is “ALIAS”.

2Category hints (no answers)

Yellow (easiest): the theme is “Exercise facilities”.
Green (easy): the theme is “Wine accessories”.
Blue (tricky): the theme is “Brands with bunny rabbit mascots”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): the theme is “Words on an old west wanted poster”.

3One full group revealed

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “Exercise facilities”, and its four words are: GYMNASIUM, HEALTH CLUB, REC CENTER, YMCA.

Connections answers — August 30, 2026 (#1176)

★Today's full Connections answers, explained

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “Exercise facilities”. The words: GYMNASIUM, HEALTH CLUB, REC CENTER, YMCA.
Green (easy) — the connection is “Wine accessories”. The words: AERATOR, CORKSCREW, DECANTER, STOPPER.
Blue (tricky) — the connection is “Brands with bunny rabbit mascots”. The words: CADBURY, ENERGIZER, PLAYBOY, TRIX.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay) — the connection is “Words on an old west wanted poster”. The words: ALIAS, OUTLAW, REWARD, WANTED.

The puzzle, explained

The purple group's genius was that WANTED, ALIAS, OUTLAW, and REWARD all appear as actual text on those old-timey wanted posters—it's such a specific, satisfying connection once you see it. The real trap was WANTED, which probably felt like it belonged with the wine accessories as a verb (as in "wanted: a corkscrew"), but it actually goes with the Western poster category. PLAYBOY was another sneaky misdirect since it has that iconic bunny mascot just like Cadbury, Energizer, and Trix, making the blue group feel more obvious than it actually was. Honestly, the hardest part was resisting the urge to group ENERGIZER with REWARD since they both trigger that "Energizer Bunny" jingle in your head, but Energizer's the mascot brand while REWARD is just text on a poster.

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) →