Today’s NYT Connections puzzle has a few sneaky tricks waiting for you. Puzzle #1185 brings together classic American cars, mime costume pieces, phrases involving the heart, and a particularly clever candy bar wordplay category.
Stuck on the grid? Don’t worry. We’ve got the hints first, followed by the full answers if you need them.
What Is NYT Connections?
Connections is the New York Times’ daily word game where you have to sort 16 words into four groups of four. Each group follows a hidden connection, with the categories getting progressively more difficult.
The four colors represent the difficulty:
- Yellow: Easiest
- Green: Fairly easy
- Blue: Tricky
- Purple: Hardest, usually involving wordplay
You only get four incorrect guesses, so it’s worth taking your time before making a selection. One misleading word can easily throw off an otherwise correct group.
NYT Connections Hints for September 8, 2026
Want a little help without giving away the solution? Here are today’s category hints.
- Yellow: Famous American performance cars
- Green: Things you might see on a mime’s outfit
- Blue: Words that can go with “heart”
- Purple: Candy bars with an extra letter
The purple category is probably the biggest trap today. Don’t focus too much on what the words mean on their own. Look closely at their spelling.
NYT Connections Answers Today
Ready for the solution? Here are all four groups for Connections puzzle #1185:
| Category | Words |
|---|---|
| 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 |
Yellow: Classic American Performance Cars
Corvette, Firebird, Mustang, and Viper are all famous American performance cars.
This is probably the most straightforward group on today’s board. Once you spot a couple of the names, the other two fall into place pretty quickly.
Green: Features of a Mime Costume
Beret, Gloves, Stripes, and Suspenders.
These are all associated with the stereotypical mime costume. The white gloves and striped shirt are especially recognizable, while the beret and suspenders complete the familiar look.
The catch is that individual words like “gloves” and “stripes” can look tempting alongside other words on the board, so it’s easy to second-guess this group.
Blue: ___ Heart
For the blue category, the missing word is Heart.
The four answers are Artichoke, Purple, Sacred, and Take To:
- Artichoke heart
- Purple Heart
- Sacred Heart
- Take to heart
This category is a good reminder that Connections isn’t always looking for four nouns from the same subject. Sometimes the connection is simply how the words fit into familiar phrases.
Purple: Candy Bars Plus a Letter
This is where today’s puzzle gets clever.
Doves, Marsh, Skort, and Twixt are each based on a candy bar name with one extra letter added:
- Dove – Doves
- Mars – Marsh
- Skor – Skort
- Twix – Twixt
At first glance, these words don’t seem to have much in common. That’s exactly what makes the purple category so easy to miss.
Quick Connection Answers Recap
- 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
Why Today’s Connections Puzzle Is Tricky
Today’s puzzle shows why it’s important to look beyond the obvious meaning of a word.
Take Marsh, for example. Most people will immediately think of wetlands or a swamp. But remove the final letter and you get Mars, a candy bar.
The same trick works across the rest of the purple group. Once you recognize the pattern, the category suddenly becomes much easier.
That’s one of the things that makes Connections so satisfying. A group can look completely random until one small detail reveals the pattern.
Final Thoughts
Connections #1185 is a fun mix of straightforward categories and sneaky wordplay. The car group should give you an early foothold, while the candy bars plus a letter category is likely to cause the most headaches.
If you managed to solve the purple group without checking the answers, nice work. If not, don’t feel bad. That category was designed to make you look at the words twice.
Check back tomorrow for the next NYT Connections hints and answers, and follow GamerUrge for more gaming news, guides, and daily puzzle solutions.
