Connections Forbes: Daily Hints, Clues & NYT Puzzle Guide in 2026

Connections Forbes is shorthand for the daily NYT Connections hints and answers columns that Forbes publishes, most of them written by Kris Holt. Forbes doesn’t make the puzzle. Connections is a New York Times game, and the Forbes columns are independent help pages built around it.

This page won’t hand you today’s solution. It explains how the Forbes columns are laid out, how to use them without spoiling your own game, and how the puzzle itself works, so you can get unstuck and still enjoy solving.

For today’s edition, go straight to the Forbes column. When this page was last checked, the newest one was Forbes’ hints and answers for Monday, September 28. Forbes titles each column “Today’s NYT Connections Hints And Answers” followed by the weekday and date, so searching that phrase with the date you want will find it.

Last updated: September 28, 2026. Column formats, authors, and NYT rules can change, so treat this page as a guide to the format and check the source for anything time-sensitive.

Table of Contents

What Is Connections Forbes?

It’s a daily series of columns on Forbes. Each one helps players get through that day’s NYT Connections grid, from a light nudge up to the complete solution. When people search Forbes Connections today, this is almost always what they want.

A few things are worth knowing:

The writers. Kris Holt, whom Forbes describes as a writer covering video games and word games, is the main author of the daily columns. Forbes contributor Paul Tassi has also published Connections hints, including one for Saturday, September 26, so the byline can vary, especially at weekends.
Two columns a day. Besides the hints-and-answers column, Holt writes a separate “Answers Explained” piece that unpacks how each day’s groups and red herrings fit together.
A personal tone. Holt’s columns open with a friendly note before the game content, sometimes about a song or something from her week. They also point readers to a Discord community, and Holt’s columns say her weekend editions run in her newsletter, Pastimes. Weekend coverage can therefore look different from weekday coverage.
Independent, not official. Forbes marks contributor work as independent analysis. The columns have no connection to the puzzle’s creation.

What Is the NYT Connections Game?

Connections is a daily word puzzle from The New York Times. You get a grid of 16 items and have to sort them into four groups of four that share something in common. You aren’t told the categories, so working out what links each group is the game. Each puzzle has one correct solution, and it usually includes deliberate red herrings.

You can play it free on the NYT website or in the NYT Games app. According to Forbes, an NYT All Access or Games subscription unlocks the archive of past puzzles. Check NYT for current terms, since access policies change.

Every Puzzle Contains

Feature	Details
Grid	16 items, which are usually words but can also be phrases, symbols, or numbers
Groups	Four groups of four items each
Difficulty colors	Yellow, green, blue, purple
Wrong guesses	Three can be absorbed, and the fourth ends the game and reveals the answers
Solution	One intended arrangement

How Connections Forbes Structures Daily Hints

A Forbes column releases help in stages, so you can stop as soon as you have enough. According to Holt’s own description, the order is:

The day’s word list
A hint for each category
One word that belongs in each group
The category names
The full answers

The columns are named for the puzzle they cover. Their web addresses, however, have carried the previous day’s date, so go by the title, not the URL, when you’re picking the right day.

Difficulty Overview

The top of a column is mostly a personal note, a link to the previous day’s hints, and a recap of the rules. Some editions may add a remark about how tricky the puzzle looks, but a standard difficulty rating isn’t a fixed part of the format as far as could be confirmed. If you want a sense of difficulty in advance, the yellow-to-purple ordering described below is the general guide.

Category Hints Without Spoilers

This is the first tier of real help. Instead of naming the category, each hint points toward it. It’s the best place to start when you’re close but stuck, because you get help on one group without losing the others. If you’re looking for NYT Connections hints or Connections clues that stop short of giving anything away, this is the section of the column to read.

Category Names

Before the names, Forbes reveals one word from each group. That’s a bigger lift than a hint, since it anchors each group with a confirmed member. The category names come next. Once you know a group’s link, the remaining words in it are often easy to spot.

Complete Answers and Word Groups

The full solution is at the bottom of the same page. Anyone searching for NYT Connections answers or Forbes Connections answers ends up here, and scrolling too far means seeing everything. The top of a column also links to the previous day’s hints and answers, so check the date before you click.

Puzzle Analysis and Explanation

Answers Explained is the companion column for players who want to understand a solution after finishing. It opens with a spoiler warning telling you to complete the puzzle first. If you want to learn how a puzzle was built, it’s the most useful piece in the set.

How to Use Connections Forbes Hints Without Ruining the Puzzle

The idea is simple: stop at the earliest stage that gets you moving. Each step below reveals a little more than the last.

Start With the General Hint

Begin with the mildest help available, which is usually a hint for the group you’re closest to solving. Don’t scroll to the answers to “just check.” Because a formal difficulty overview isn’t guaranteed, per-category hints are the best entry point.

Reveal One Category at a Time

Read a single hint, then go back to the grid and try it. If a group falls into place, keep going on your own. Only move to the next hint when you’re stuck again.

Save the Full Answers for Last

Treat the complete solution as a fallback, useful for checking a finished grid or protecting a streak when you’re out of guesses. Since it sits at the bottom of the same page, scroll with care.

Review the Puzzle Logic After Solving

Once you’re done, read the Answers Explained column and ask yourself where your own reasoning went wrong. Learning why a wrong path looked tempting does more for your next game than getting the answer.

Understanding the Four Difficulty Levels

Every solved group gets a color. Forbes says the yellow group is usually the easiest to deduce, followed by green, blue, and purple. Note the word “usually.” The colors show how hard a group is intended to be, and a given player may find the order different. The colors say nothing about topic, so a yellow group isn’t always about animals or colors.

Yellow – The Most Straightforward Group

Yellow is normally the most direct link, where the words plainly belong together. It’s often the best place to begin, though red herrings can still make it look less obvious than it is.

Green – Moderately Easy Connections

Green is usually a step less obvious than yellow. The link is still fairly reachable, but you may need to rule out a word or two that seemed to belong elsewhere.

Blue – More Challenging Word Relationships

Blue groups tend to be more likely to overlap with other groups, so a word can fit two places at once. Sorting out which word belongs where is the main challenge.

Purple – The Most Difficult and Creative Category

If you’ve wondered why the purple group is harder, the usual reason is that the link often isn’t about what the words mean. It may rest on how they’re spelled, how they sound, or a word that could sit beside each of them. That’s hard to spot when you’re searching for a topic. Purple is also typically the group left after the other three are removed, so you sometimes solve it by elimination.

Common Types of Connections Categories

Rather than memorize topics, it helps to think about how a link works. The examples below are invented for illustration and aren’t from real puzzles.

Type	How it works	Invented example
Shared meaning	The words belong to one set or describe the same thing	Bark, Yelp, Growl, Howl (dog sounds)
Fill in the blank	Each word can come before or after the same word	Fly, Work, Place, Truck (all follow “Fire”)
Hidden words	Each item contains a smaller word	Plant, Scatter, Crate, Bearing (ant, cat, rat, bear)
Proper nouns and pop culture	The items are names of people, places, or brands	Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Artemis (NASA programs)

If four words don’t fit an obvious topic, ask what they might have in common in form: could each be followed by the same word, contain a smaller word, or sound like something else? That’s usually how you identify a hidden Connections category.

Proven Strategies for Solving NYT Connections Faster

None of these is guaranteed, and no one can promise that any of them will make you faster. They’re habits many players find useful.

Find the Most Obvious Four Words First

If you’re wondering where to start when solving Connections, start with the clearest group. Clearing four items shrinks the grid and makes the rest easier to read. Before you submit, check whether a fifth word also fits.

Look for Multiple Meanings

A single word can serve several groups. “Spring” can be a season, a coil, a source of water, or the verb for leaping. If a word won’t fit anywhere, try a different meaning.

Watch Out for Red Herrings

A red herring is a set of words that seem to belong together but don’t. Say five words all look like birds, yet one is needed in a group about construction equipment. Only four can go in the bird group, so the fifth is the tell. Whenever you find more than four candidates, work out which word has a second home.

Rearrange Words Mentally

The grid’s layout carries no hints. Try regrouping items in your head, or use the game’s shuffle option to break up a pairing you’ve been staring at.

Eliminate Incorrect Pairings

Once one group is certain, the remaining words are easier to sort, because every word you rule out narrows the rest. This is the most reliable way to deal with a stubborn group.

Save Unusual Words Until the End

If a word is unfamiliar, it may not be worth solving around. A group you can solve without it will often leave that word in the right place by process of elimination.

Most Common Mistakes Players Make

Where the strategies above are actions, these are the patterns that cost players guesses. You can only afford three wrong ones.

Rushing Into Obvious Groups

Locking in the first four words that seem related. Pause and check for a fifth candidate first.

Ignoring Alternate Meanings

Sticking with the first definition of a word, even when it won’t fit.

Overlooking Wordplay

Reading every category as a topic when the link may be about spelling, sound, or a shared partner word.

Forgetting Proper Nouns

Names of people, places, and brands can turn up in the grid, so a word that looks odd may be a name.

Guessing Too Early

Treating guesses as free. Each wrong one brings you closer to the game ending, so submit when you’re confident, not when you’re curious.

Why Daily Connections Puzzles Improve Vocabulary and Critical Thinking

This article doesn’t cite research showing that the puzzle improves anything, and it won’t claim that it does. What can be said is what the game asks of you: noticing patterns, recalling words and their different meanings, and testing an idea against the evidence in front of you. Whether that carries over to anything outside the puzzle is a separate question.

Benefits Include

Treat the following as descriptions of what the game exercises, not as proven outcomes:

Word recall, including less common meanings
Spotting patterns among unrelated items
Flexible thinking when a first idea doesn’t hold up
Reasoning by elimination

Where Else Can You Find Daily Connections Hints?

Forbes isn’t the only option, and sources differ in how much they reveal and how. These are the ones found while researching this page. Their formats can change, so check them yourself.

Source	What it offers	Spoiler control
Forbes	Staged column with hints, a word per group, category names, and answers, plus a separate Answers Explained piece	Stops are built in, but the answers sit on the same page
Tom’s Guide	A daily hints-and-answers page that also reflects on the previous puzzle for readers in other time zones	Check the layout before you scroll
Word Tips	A daily hints page that puts the answers last, with a tap-to-reveal feature	Reveal is on demand

Some writers also run community spaces. The Forbes columns mention Holt’s Discord, for example.

How to Avoid Spoilers While Searching for Connections Hints

Half the battle is keeping the answer off your screen before you decide you want it.

Search for hints, not answers. It’s no guarantee, but it usually leads to a gentler page.
Go by the title date. A Forbes column’s web address has carried the previous day’s date, so match the puzzle date in the title to the game you’re playing.
Watch the top of the page. Columns link to the previous day’s hints and answers, which could show yesterday’s solution if you click by accident.
Stop at your tier. Know where the spoilers begin before you scroll.
Mind your time zone. Tom’s Guide adds a recap of yesterday’s puzzle for readers in other time zones, which shows the puzzle date can differ depending on where you are.
Skip comments and previews until you’ve finished.

Frequently Asked Questions About Connections Forbes

What does Connections Forbes mean?

It’s shorthand for Forbes’s daily NYT Connections hints and answers columns, written mostly by Kris Holt. See the first section above for details.

Does Forbes create the NYT Connections puzzle?

No. The puzzle is an NYT game, and Forbes contributors write independent hint columns about it.

Are Forbes hints spoiler-free?

Partly. The columns reveal help in stages, but the full answers are on the same page, so stop reading when you have enough.

What do the Yellow, Green, Blue and Purple colors represent?

Difficulty. Yellow is usually the easiest group and purple the hardest, though that varies by player.

Where can I play NYT Connections?

On the NYT Games website or in the NYT Games app. Forbes describes it as free.

Can I play older Connections puzzles?

According to Forbes, an NYT All Access or Games subscription unlocks the archive. Check NYT for current access rules.

Should beginners use hints?

Yes, if you stop at the earliest hint that helps. Category hints teach how the puzzles are built without giving the answers away, and the Answers Explained column shows the reasoning afterward.

Final Thoughts on Connections Forbes

The most useful way to treat a Forbes column is as a ladder you can step off at any point. Read the mildest hint that unsticks you, finish the grid yourself, then read the Answers Explained column to see what you missed. For today’s puzzle, the current Forbes column is the place to start.