Long Story Short / Puzzle hints / ConnectionsPlay Long Story Short ›

Connections #1,192

September 15, 2026

By Akash Wadhwani. Checked against two sources, updated 1:35 AM ET.

Sixteen words and four groups of four. Yellow is usually the straightforward one and purple is usually wordplay, so the hints below go one step at a time.

Hint 1: one word from each group
  • Yellow: one of the four is COACH.
  • Green: one of the four is LID.
  • Blue: one of the four is MOLE.
  • Purple: one of the four is CABOOSE.
Hint 2: the four categories
  • Yellow: Instruct.
  • Green: Parts Of A Whistling Kettle.
  • Blue: Undercover Operative.
  • Purple: Things That Appear At The End.
PLANTCOACHWHISTLEDESSERTHANDLECABOOSEDECEMBERSLEEPERDIRECTTRAINLIDASSETSPOUTMOLEEPILOGUEGUIDE

Today's Connections groups, #1,192

  • Yellow, Instruct: COACH, DIRECT, GUIDE, TRAIN.
  • Green, Parts Of A Whistling Kettle: HANDLE, LID, SPOUT, WHISTLE.
  • Blue, Undercover Operative: ASSET, MOLE, PLANT, SLEEPER.
  • Purple, Things That Appear At The End: CABOOSE, DECEMBER, DESSERT, EPILOGUE.

The purple group

Purple today is Things That Appear At The End: CABOOSE, DECEMBER, DESSERT, EPILOGUE. 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 somewhere else, that was the point.

Yesterday's Connections

Connections #1,191, September 14, 2026: Waterbirds (COOT, GOOSE, LOON, TEAL); Informant (CANARY, RAT, SNITCH, STOOLIE); Common Single-use Plastic Items (BAG, CUTLERY, STIRRER, STRAW); ___grass (BLUE, CRAB, LEMON, WHEAT). Yesterday's page ›

Connections is four groups. This one is five words.

One real news sentence a day, twenty to thirty words, something that actually happened. Keep the five words a headline would keep and let the rest go. Here is yesterday's, solved.

At Camden Lock, a 71-year-old woman, Beatrice Millar, took off her shoes, jumped in after a drowning man and saved him by holding his head above water.

Five tries. blue is the right word in the right place, orange is one of the five sitting somewhere else, grey is not one of them. The result beats the process, a name or a job beats a place, and the little words never count.

How you finish decides which sticker you keep.

Got it in oneClean copyFirst editionSo closeSince day one
Play today's sentence ›