September 8, 2026

Connections #1,185 hints and answers

By Akash Wadhwani. Checked against two sources, updated 2:56 PM ET.

Hint 1: one word from each group
Hint 2: the four categories
PURPLESTRIPESSKORTGLOVESCORVETTEARTICHOKEDOVESMARSHSACREDBERETVIPERTWIXTSUSPENDERSMUSTANGTAKE TOFIREBIRD
CLASSIC AMERICAN PERFORMANCE CARS
CORVETTE, FIREBIRD, MUSTANG, VIPER
FEATURES OF A MIME COSTUME
BERET, GLOVES, STRIPES, SUSPENDERS
___ HEART
ARTICHOKE, PURPLE, SACRED, TAKE TO
CANDY BARS PLUS A LETTER
DOVES, MARSH, SKORT, TWIXT
Tap for today's groups

CLASSIC AMERICAN PERFORMANCE CARS: CORVETTE, FIREBIRD, MUSTANG, VIPER. FEATURES OF A MIME COSTUME: BERET, GLOVES, STRIPES, SUSPENDERS. ___ HEART: ARTICHOKE, PURPLE, SACRED, TAKE TO. CANDY BARS PLUS A LETTER: DOVES, MARSH, SKORT, TWIXT

The Connections groups today, puzzle #1,185.

Skip to today's sentence ›

Today's Connections answers, #1,185

The purple group

Purple today is Candy Bars Plus A Letter: DOVES, MARSH, SKORT, TWIXT. Purple is the group the setters build last, and it is usually a hidden word, a sound, or a phrase pattern rather than a plain category. If two of its words looked like they belonged in a different group, that was the point.

Yesterday's Connections

Connections #1,197, September 20, 2026: Round Flat Things (BLU-RAY, COASTER, SAND DOLLAR, TORTILLA); Associated With Kentucky (BLUEGRASS, BOURBON, DERBY, FRIED CHICKEN); Vampire Movies (BLADE, NEAR DARK, SINNERS, TWILIGHT); ___boards You Ride On (HOVER, SKATE, SNOW, SURF). Yesterday's page ›

Connections done. Now the five-word one.

One real news sentence. Tap the five words a headline would keep. Same colours, five tries, one minute.

How to play

One real news sentence. Tap five of its words, in order, the five a headline would keep, then guess. Blue means right word, right spot. Orange means it is in the headline, somewhere else. Grey means it is not in it. Five tries. The result beats the process, the name or the job beats the place, and little words like a, the and of never count.

Yesterday: Karl Wenner turned 70 acres of his barley farm near Klamath Falls into a wetland, home now to 140 bird species and twenty thousand ducks. The five: Wenner turned farm into wetland.

Open the full game ›

Connections is four groups. This is five words.

Connections
Long Story Short
You keep
four groups
five words
From
a grid of 16
today's news
Tries
four mistakes
five
The sentence
stays on screen
Play today's sentence ›

The last 14 Connections puzzles

Date#Groups
September 20, 20261,197Round Flat Things · Associated With Kentucky · Vampire Movies · ___boards You Ride On
September 19, 20261,196Widen One's Scope · Features Of A Kid's Drawing · Associated With Swinging London In The 1960s · Starting With Abbreviated Math Functions
September 18, 20261,195Segment Of A Process · Assortments Of Food/drink · Parts Of A Flight · ___case
September 17, 20261,194Elasticity · Things That Are Underground · Hugh Jackman Movies, With "the" · Love ___
September 16, 20261,193Ending In Metal Elements · Starting With U.s. Coins · Poets' Middle Names · Sausages Plus A Letter
September 15, 20261,192Instruct · Parts Of A Whistling Kettle · Undercover Operative · Things That Appear At The End
September 14, 20261,191Waterbirds · Informant · Common Single-use Plastic Items · ___grass
September 13, 20261,190Lacking In Firmness · U.s. Presidents · Words That Sound Like Two Letters · Ending In Elevated Landforms
September 12, 20261,189Ways To Personalize A Car · People In An Online Forum · Things That Blink · ___ Alert
September 11, 20261,188People Hired For An Event · Internalize · Ways To Practice Self-care · Things That Are Pushed Metaphorically
September 10, 20261,187Chemical Elements · What You Might See Sticking Out Of A Window · Bruce Springsteen Classics · Ending In Synonyms For "happening Now"
September 9, 20261,186Hard To Understand · Words With "small" Prefixes · Horror Movies · Words Before "force"
September 7, 20261,184Quite The Saga · Parts Of A Bra · Associated With Pine Trees · Starting With Disney Characters
September 6, 20261,183Unrestricted Permission · Places To Insert Something Into On A Computer · Abbreviations Followed By Redundant Word · Ending With Ways To Carve A Surface

How Long Story Short works

You know Connections. This is one sentence instead of sixteen words, and you keep five. Every day there is one real news sentence, twenty to thirty words, something that actually happened. Your job is to tap the five words a headline would keep. Wordle colours score you: blue means the word is in the answer and in the right place, orange means it is in the answer but in a different place, grey means it is not in the headline. Five tries.

The answer follows the rules a newspaper desk uses. The result beats the process, so a pond that became a wildlife habitat beats the digging. A name you can picture beats a count. The glue words, a, the, of, and, never count. When you finish, the game shows every word in the sentence and why it lived or why it died, and then tells you the true story behind the sentence.

It is free, no account, and your streak lives on this device. There is a Hard mode for people who want a second, longer sentence with three tries.

FAQ

What are today's Connections answers?

For September 8, 2026, puzzle #1,185: CLASSIC AMERICAN PERFORMANCE CARS: CORVETTE, FIREBIRD, MUSTANG, VIPER. FEATURES OF A MIME COSTUME: BERET, GLOVES, STRIPES, SUSPENDERS. ___ HEART: ARTICHOKE, PURPLE, SACRED, TAKE TO. CANDY BARS PLUS A LETTER: DOVES, MARSH, SKORT, TWIXT.

What is today's purple group?

Candy Bars Plus A Letter: DOVES, MARSH, SKORT, TWIXT.

What were yesterday's Connections answers?

#1,197: Round Flat Things: BLU-RAY, COASTER, SAND DOLLAR, TORTILLA. Associated With Kentucky: BLUEGRASS, BOURBON, DERBY, FRIED CHICKEN. Vampire Movies: BLADE, NEAR DARK, SINNERS, TWILIGHT. ___boards You Ride On: HOVER, SKATE, SNOW, SURF.

What number is today's Connections?

#1,185.

When does this page update?

Within a few hours of midnight Eastern, once the day's board is confirmed by two sources. Today: 2:56 PM ET.

Is this the official Connections site?

No. Official Connections is on the New York Times. This page is unofficial hints and answers, then Long Story Short, a different game.

Unofficial Connections hints. Not affiliated with the New York Times. Connections is a trademark of the New York Times. Long Story Short is a daily word game from sheets.works. Wordle hints · Wordle and Connections · Long Story Short archive