NYT Connections #1206 answer & hints: Tuesday, September 29, 2026

Updated: Tuesday, September 29, 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 #1206 of Tuesday, September 29, 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 29, 2026)

1One word from each group

Yellow (easiest): one of its words is “HIDDEN”.
Green (easy): one of its words is “DELTA”.
Blue (tricky): one of its words is “FINDING”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): one of its words is “FREEZE TAG”.

2Category hints (no answers)

Yellow (easiest): the theme is “Secluded”.
Green (easy): the theme is “River features”.
Blue (tricky): the theme is “First words of pixar films”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): the theme is “Phrases hiding greek letters”.

3One full group revealed

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “Secluded”, and its four words are: HIDDEN, REMOTE, SECRET, TUCKED AWAY.

Connections answers — September 29, 2026 (#1206)

★Today's full Connections answers, explained

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “Secluded”. The words: HIDDEN, REMOTE, SECRET, TUCKED AWAY.
Green (easy) — the connection is “River features”. The words: DELTA, DRAINAGE BASIN, MOUTH, STREAM BED.
Blue (tricky) — the connection is “First words of pixar films”. The words: FINDING, INSIDE, MONSTERS, TOY.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay) — the connection is “Phrases hiding greek letters”. The words: FREEZE TAG, HOME GAME, MODEL TANK, ORAL PHASE.

The puzzle, explained

The purple group was sneaky because each phrase hides a Greek letter within it: "FREEZE TAG" contains tau (fre**ze ta**g), "HOME GAME" hides mu (ho**me ga**me), "MODEL TANK" contains lambda (mode**l tan**k), and "ORAL PHASE" has alpha (or**al pha**se). The real trap was "TOY" from the blue group—it's the first word of *Toy Story*, but it also contains "oy," which sounds like omicron if you're not careful, making some solvers second-guess the Pixar connection. Similarly, "INSIDE" could've seemed like it belonged with the secluded words since inside means hidden, but it's actually the start of *Inside Out*, so nailing down that blue group first was key to avoiding disaster on the final solve.

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) →