NYT Connections #1178 answer & hints: Tuesday, September 1, 2026

Updated: Tuesday, September 1, 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 #1178 of Tuesday, September 1, 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 (September 1, 2026)

1One word from each group

Yellow (easiest): one of its words is “CROSS MY HEART”.
Green (easy): one of its words is “ARROW”.
Blue (tricky): one of its words is “HERCULE POIROT”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): one of its words is “AIMEE MANN”.

2Category hints (no answers)

Yellow (easiest): the theme is “"i promise!"”.
Green (easy): the theme is “Long, skinny things often seen together”.
Blue (tricky): the theme is “Private investigators of fiction”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): the theme is “Starting with words of intention”.

3One full group revealed

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “"i promise!"”, and its four words are: CROSS MY HEART, FOR REAL, ON GOD, PINKY SWEAR.

Connections answers — September 1, 2026 (#1178)

★Today's full Connections answers, explained

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “"i promise!"”. The words: CROSS MY HEART, FOR REAL, ON GOD, PINKY SWEAR.
Green (easy) — the connection is “Long, skinny things often seen together”. The words: ARROW, GOLF CLUB, PICK-UP STICK, SPAGHETTO.
Blue (tricky) — the connection is “Private investigators of fiction”. The words: HERCULE POIROT, MIKE HAMMER, SAM SPADE, SHERLOCK HOLMES.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay) — the connection is “Starting with words of intention”. The words: AIMEE MANN, HOPE DIAMOND, PLANETARIUM, WISHY-WASHY.

The puzzle, explained

The purple group's trick was that each word starts with a synonym for "intention"—AIM (Aimee Mann), HOPE (Hope Diamond), PLAN (Planetarium), and WISH (Wishy-washy)—which is way sneakier than it sounds since none of these words obviously scream "intention" at first glance. The real bait here was probably "HOPE DIAMOND" and "PLANETARIUM," since they're concrete nouns that feel like they should belong in a straightforward category rather than a wordplay one. "WISHY-WASHY" was likely the aha moment that cracked it open, since it's the only one where the intention-word is actually doing work in the phrase's meaning. If you got tripped up, you might've been tempted to group some of these with the green category of "long, skinny things," especially if you were thinking about gold/gemstones or celestial objects—but that would've only worked if you weren't paying attention to the hidden wordplay structure.

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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