NYT Connections #1205 answer & hints: Monday, September 28, 2026

Updated: Monday, September 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 #1205 of Monday, September 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 (September 28, 2026)

1One word from each group

Yellow (easiest): one of its words is “BAMBOO”.
Green (easy): one of its words is “HORSERADISH”.
Blue (tricky): one of its words is “CHALLENGER”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): one of its words is “ARKANSANS”.

2Category hints (no answers)

Yellow (easiest): the theme is “Things with stalks”.
Green (easy): the theme is “Oyster condiments”.
Blue (tricky): the theme is “Dodge models”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): the theme is “Three letters plus repeated trigrams”.

3One full group revealed

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “Things with stalks”, and its four words are: BAMBOO, CELERY, CORN, WHEAT.

Connections answers — September 28, 2026 (#1205)

★Today's full Connections answers, explained

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “Things with stalks”. The words: BAMBOO, CELERY, CORN, WHEAT.
Green (easy) — the connection is “Oyster condiments”. The words: HORSERADISH, LEMON, MIGNONETTE, TABASCO.
Blue (tricky) — the connection is “Dodge models”. The words: CHALLENGER, CHARGER, DURANGO, VIPER.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay) — the connection is “Three letters plus repeated trigrams”. The words: ARKANSANS, CHIHUAHUA, POSSESSES, SPRINGING.

The puzzle, explained

The purple group's trick is beautifully sneaky: each word is literally three letters plus a three-letter sequence that repeats twice. ARKANSANS is ARK + SAN + SAN, CHIHUAHUA is CHI + HUA + HUA, POSSESSES is POS + SES + SES, and SPRINGING is SPR + ING + ING. The real trap was that CHALLENGER and CHARGER could've easily looked like they belonged here since they contain repeated letter patterns, especially CHALLENGER with its double L's—but nope, they're just Dodge models. Similarly, WHEAT might've seemed suspicious since it has a repeated E, but it's genuinely in the plants-with-stalks category where it belongs.

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 (185 puzzles) → · How to play Connections (and win more) →