Today’s NYT Connections puzzle looks easy at first glance, then hides a trap in plain sight. If you’re stuck, the answers to puzzle #1164 are below, along with hints in case you want to solve it yourself first.
Connections is the New York Times word game where you sort 16 words into four hidden groups of four. The game color-codes each group by difficulty, from Yellow (easiest) to Purple (hardest). Get four wrong guesses and the puzzle ends before you finish.
Today’s Connections Words
Here’s the full list of words in today’s grid, in alphabetical order so nothing gets spoiled early:
- Basketball
- Cowboy Coffee
- Film Noir
- Flyers Mascot
- Limousine
- Orangutan
- Paparazzi
- Petroleum Jelly
- Poetic Justice
- Practical Joke
- Private Jet
- Red Carpet
- Sandpaper
- Sweet Potato
- Traffic Cone
- Velvet Rope
NYT Connections Hints for August 18
Want a nudge instead of the full answer? Start here.
Yellow group: Picture the scene outside a movie premiere. Who’s walking in, and what’s keeping the crowd back?
Green group: Forget meaning entirely. Say each phrase’s first letters out loud.
Blue group: All four words share a color. This is also the group most likely to trip you up.
Purple group: One word describes all four. Three fit the description naturally, and the fourth is basically named after it.
NYT Connections Answers for August 18 (#1164)
Here’s the full solution, sorted from easiest to hardest.
Yellow: Seen at a Movie Premiere
Limousine, Paparazzi, Red Carpet, Velvet Rope
Green: Abbreviated PJ
Petroleum Jelly, Poetic Justice, Practical Joke, Private Jet
Blue: Things That Are Orange
Basketball, Orangutan, Sweet Potato, Traffic Cone
Purple: Things You’d Call Gritty
Cowboy Coffee, Film Noir, Flyers Mascot, Sandpaper
Why Today’s Puzzle Trips People Up
The trap in today’s grid is the Philadelphia Flyers mascot, Gritty. He’s bright orange, so most players want to drop him into the Blue group with the other orange things.
That’s exactly what the NYT wants you to do. Gritty actually belongs in Purple because of his name, not his color. It’s a classic Connections move: one word that fits two categories on the surface, but only belongs to one once you think it through.
How to Solve Connections Faster
A few habits make the daily puzzle less frustrating:
- Start with the group you’re most confident about, not the one that looks easiest.
- Watch for words that could fit two categories. That overlap is usually the trap.
- Save Purple for last. It almost always relies on wordplay, not literal meaning.
- If three groups feel locked in, double check them before submitting the fourth. A wrong early guess is the most common way a solve falls apart.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What is today’s NYT Connections puzzle number?
A. Today’s puzzle is Connections #1164, published August 18, 2026.
Q. What is the hardest group in today’s puzzle?
A. The Purple group, “Things You’d Call Gritty,” is the hardest because it relies on wordplay rather than a literal category, and it shares a decoy with the Blue group.
Final Thoughts
Puzzle #1164 rewards players who look past the obvious color match and think about wordplay instead. Once you spot the Gritty trap, the rest of the grid falls into place quickly.
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