NYT Connections #1182 answer & hints: Saturday, September 5, 2026

Updated: Saturday, September 5, 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 #1182 of Saturday, September 5, 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 5, 2026)

1One word from each group

Yellow (easiest): one of its words is “SWAY”.
Green (easy): one of its words is “COO”.
Blue (tricky): one of its words is “BOBBLE”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): one of its words is “COBBLE”.

2Category hints (no answers)

Yellow (easiest): the theme is “Move unsteadily”.
Green (easy): the theme is “Bird onomatopoeia”.
Blue (tricky): the theme is “___head”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): the theme is “Desserts minus last letter”.

3One full group revealed

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “Move unsteadily”, and its four words are: SWAY, TODDLE, TOTTER, WOBBLE.

Connections answers — September 5, 2026 (#1182)

★Today's full Connections answers, explained

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “Move unsteadily”. The words: SWAY, TODDLE, TOTTER, WOBBLE.
Green (easy) — the connection is “Bird onomatopoeia”. The words: COO, GOBBLE, HONK, WARBLE.
Blue (tricky) — the connection is “___head”. The words: BOBBLE, HAMMER, JUG, SLEEPY.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay) — the connection is “Desserts minus last letter”. The words: COBBLE, PI, TAR, TORT.

The puzzle, explained

The purple category was a sneaky one—COBBLE, PI, TAR, and TORT are all desserts with their final letters stripped away (cobbler, pie, tart, torte). COBBLE was probably the biggest trap since it also fits the blue "___HEAD" group as a real word (cobblehead isn't common, but BOBBLEHEAD is), which might've thrown you off the dessert angle. TAR and TORT were extra tricky because they're legitimate words on their own, making it easy to overlook that they're hiding tart and torte underneath. If you got stuck on the blue category, TAR and COBBLE likely felt like they belonged there since they technically do form compound words (tarhead isn't a thing, but the misdirection works), when they actually belonged in the purple dessert puzzle 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

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