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Connections #1,196

September 19, 2026

By Akash Wadhwani. Checked against two sources, updated 2:29 PM 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 GROW.
  • Green: one of the four is SUN.
  • Blue: one of the four is MOD.
  • Purple: one of the four is SIN CITY.
Hint 2: the four categories
  • Yellow: Widen One's Scope.
  • Green: Features Of A Kid's Drawing.
  • Blue: Associated With Swinging London In The 1960s.
  • Purple: Starting With Abbreviated Math Functions.
STICK FIGUREMINISKIRTLOG CABINSUNTAN LINEBRANCH OUTHOUSETWIGGYTREEMODSIN CITYGROWCOS LETTUCEEXPANDCARNABY STREETDIVERSIFY

Today's Connections groups, #1,196

  • Yellow, Widen One's Scope: BRANCH OUT, DIVERSIFY, EXPAND, GROW.
  • Green, Features Of A Kid's Drawing: HOUSE, STICK FIGURE, SUN, TREE.
  • Blue, Associated With Swinging London In The 1960s: CARNABY STREET, MINISKIRT, MOD, TWIGGY.
  • Purple, Starting With Abbreviated Math Functions: COS LETTUCE, LOG CABIN, SIN CITY, TAN LINE.

The purple group

Purple today is Starting With Abbreviated Math Functions: COS LETTUCE, LOG CABIN, SIN CITY, TAN LINE. 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 #1,195, September 18, 2026: Segment Of A Process (PHASE, ROUND, STAGE, STEP); Assortments Of Food/drink (FLIGHT, MEDLEY, PLATTER, SAMPLER); Parts Of A Flight (BOARDING, CRUISE, LANDING, TAKEOFF); ___case (BRIEF, PILLOW, STAIR, UPPER). 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 ›