Connections Hint
Puzzle #1170 · August 24, 2026

NYT Connections Hints for August 24, 2026

Start with the spoiler-free hints. Go deeper only when you need to. Reveal answers on your own terms.

Monday, August 24, 2026
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Today’s 16 Puzzle Words
Tap any word to see how it’s used in this puzzle
CHIEFMAINEYELETJOBBERDESERVETANGEX-LOVEPRIMEMULLETPIKEARCHBESETKAYFABESOLEHEELFACE

Spoiler-Free Hints

Three levels — warmer as you read down
i Ultra safe

A direction for each group — no names given.

  • They share a wet home, but many wear familiar disguises.
  • They all suggest something that goes first or outranks the rest.
  • These are charged words from a world of staged personas.
  • Something strange is hidden inside these words—listen more than read.
ii Warmer

What kind of thinking each group asks for.

  • The connection is zoological; each word also has a second, unrelated meaning.
  • These all work as modifiers meaning top, first, or most important; picking the fourth is the trick.
  • Niche vocabulary from a form of sports theater helps; two of the words are stage roles.
  • Sound matters more than spelling; each hides a single alphabet sound plus a court-sport term.
iii Mild spoilers

Pointed nudges on the words built to fool you.

  • All four are aquatic animals; their other common definitions are false friends.
  • All four are synonyms for top-ranking or first in importance; they can modify the same noun.
  • This is vocabulary from professional wrestling: two typical character roles, a designated loser, and the scripted reality itself.
  • Each word is a letter-name homophone plus a tennis term; say it slowly and split before the second part.

Today’s Trap Words

The words engineered to mislead

Every Connections board plants a few decoys. Here are today’s, and why they pull you the wrong way.

FACE

Looks like a body part alongside HEEL, ARCH, and SOLE, creating a strong decoy group that is not the real connection.

MULLET

The hairstyle meaning overwhelms the biological one for many solvers, hiding a simpler category in plain sight.

PIKE

A weapon and a fish share the same name, so it can feel like an object rather than an animal.

SOLE

Fits at least three readings—fish, foot part, and 'only'—which makes it a pivot for multiple false starts.

Connections Answers — August 24, 2026

Tap any group to reveal it
Answers are hidden — tap a group to peek, or reveal all at once.
FISH
SOLE · MULLET · PIKE · TANG
Tap to reveal
PRINCIPAL
MAIN · PRIME · ARCH · CHIEF
Tap to reveal
PRO-WRESTLING LINGO
HEEL · KAYFABE · FACE · JOBBER
Tap to reveal
LETTER HOMOPHONE PLUS TENNIS TERM
DESERVE · EYELET · EX-LOVE · BESET
Tap to reveal
SEE ALSO:
NYT Wordle hints for August 24, 2026 NYT Pips hints for August 24, 2026 NYT Strands hints for August 24, 2026

Category Breakdown — Puzzle #1170

Why each group works — not just what it is

FISH

MULLET, PIKE, SOLE, and TANG are all types of fish. Their multiple everyday meanings—hairstyle, weapon, foot part, flavor—make the yellow group trickier than usual.

PRINCIPAL

ARCH, CHIEF, MAIN, and PRIME all mean first in rank, importance, or degree. ARCH is the most surprising, since it usually appears as a noun or prefix rather than a standalone synonym.

PRO-WRESTLING LINGO

FACE and HEEL are the classic hero and villain roles, JOBBER is a performer who routinely loses, and KAYFABE is the staged fiction of the wrestling world.

LETTER HOMOPHONE PLUS TENNIS TERM

Each word splits into a letter sound plus a tennis term: B + SET makes BESET, D + SERVE makes DESERVE, X + LOVE makes EX-LOVE, and I + LET makes EYELET.

Word Guide — All 16 Puzzle Words

What each word means in this puzzle
CHIEF
A leader or head; also an adjective meaning most important. Its common use makes it easy to recognize but also easy to sort too quickly.
MAIN
Means most important or primary, often used for a central idea, course, or event. It is straightforward, but also appears in food and geographical contexts.
EYELET
A small reinforced hole, often for laces or cord. Its sound can be split into a letter name and a tennis term, which is why it appears unusually among common vocabulary.
JOBBER
In staged combat sports, a performer who regularly loses to make other wrestlers look stronger. Outside that world it can mean a person who does small or wholesale jobs.
DESERVE
Means to be worthy of or merit something. Its pronunciation can be split into a letter name and a tennis action, making it a standout sound-based word.
TANG
A small, brightly colored reef fish, often seen in aquariums. In everyday language it more often means a sharp, distinctive taste, giving it extra camouflage.
EX-LOVE
A phrase meaning a former partner or romantic interest. It is constructed so that it sounds like a letter name plus a tennis score term, though it is not an everyday expression.
PRIME
Means first-rate, main, or most important. It is also a mathematical term for certain numbers, so solvers may temporarily think of numbered puzzles.
MULLET
A common food and game fish found in coastal and freshwater habitats. Many people recognize the word more quickly as a hairstyle—short in front, long in back—making it a lively decoy.
PIKE
A long-snouted freshwater fish that can grow quite large. The same spelling also names a pointed weapon, so it briefly looks like it belongs among tools or historical arms.
ARCH
A prefix or adjective meaning chief, principal, or most extreme, as in an archrival. It also describes a curved structure or the raised part of a foot, so it hides in plain sight.
BESET
Normally means to trouble, surround, or attack from all sides. In this puzzle it also sounds like a letter name followed by a tennis term, which is its hidden trick.
KAYFABE
A term from sports entertainment for the fictional reality and storylines that performers maintain with the audience. It is niche vocabulary, so it often sends solvers searching.
SOLE
A flatfish prized for its mild white flesh. It also means the underside of a foot or shoe, and as an adjective it can mean one or only, giving it several plausible directions.
HEEL
The back part of the foot or shoe; in sports entertainment, it means the villainous character. Its physical meaning helps create a misleading body-part thread.
FACE
The front of the head; in sports entertainment, it can mean the heroic or fan-favorite character. Its ordinary body meaning overlaps with other decoy words on the board.

Puzzle Design Analysis

Why the editor constructed it this way

Wyna Liu constructs a strong body-part decoy with FACE, HEEL, ARCH, and SOLE pulled from three different true groups. The yellow fish hide behind everyday secondary meanings, while the purple group cleverly encodes a letter sound plus a tennis term inside ordinary-looking vocabulary. Blue’s niche wrestling terms create a knowledge barrier that balances the easier groups.

Difficulty & Analysis

How tough today’s board really plays
Overall
6.8/10
Most deceptive
SOLE

a textbook decoy

Hardest group
Letter + Tennis Term

requires lateral thinking

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