NYT Connections Hints Today: Check Answers and Clues, May 14, 2026

The New York Times (NYT) Connections is a popular daily word game created by the NYT, in which players attempt to connect 16 different words into one of four groups containing four words each based on hidden relationships. There can be many different types of common relationships between the words, including, but not limited to, colors or animals as straightforward relationships, or more obscure relationships such as expressions or cultural allusions.

The NYT Connections puzzle for May 14, 2026, would look as follows: there are 16 random words that need to be grouped into four groups of four words based on common themes. Generally speaking, each NYT Connections puzzle contains a good variety of word groupings, that is, there are typically easy, medium and hard groupings.

Frequently there is at least one grouping that is incorrectly designed to confuse players. The most challenging piece of the NYT Connections puzzle is finding the subtle relationships between words and avoiding groupings that appear to be correct but actually are incorrect.

Check Out: What Is NYT Connections? The New York Times Puzzle Game Explained

Hints for NYT Connections May 14, 2026

Here are the hints for NYT Connections, May 14, 2026, Puzzle #1068. 

You have to club four words together that belong to the same category, which will get sorted into 5 colours: yellow, green, blue, and purple. 

You just need to be good at pattern recognition and the ability to sort them into the correct categories. 

YELLOW: PREMONITION

GREEN: CELLPHONE MODES

BLUE: BAD THINGS TO DO IN MODERN DATING

PURPLE: PHRASES WHOSE SECOND WORDS INCLUDE THEIR FIRST WORD

Let us find out the answers to today’s NYT Connections! Let us see how many you were able to get right! 

NYT Connections Answers for May 14, 2026 (Thursday)

Here are the solutions for NYT Connections Puzzle #1068 for May 14, 2026! 

Below you will see the four categories from today’s game, including the correct words that make up each set. Match these answers to your guesses of each category! Let us find out the answers to today’s NYT Connections! Let us see how many you were able to get right!

YELLOW: PREMONITION (GUT FEELING, HUNCH, INTUITION, SIXTH SENSE)

GREEN: CELLPHONE MODES (DO NOT DISTURB, RING, SILENT, VIBRATE)

BLUE: BAD THINGS TO DO IN MODERN DATING (BREADCRUMB, CATFISH, GHOST, LOVE BOMB)

PURPLE: PHRASES WHOSE SECOND WORDS INCLUDE THEIR FIRST WORD (AIR CAIRO, ALL HALLOWS, ARM WARMER, THE OTHERS)

Let’s take the time to review the groups one at a time and look at the connections that bind these four groups together.

What is the NYT Connections Game?

The NYT Connections is a word link game in which the New York Times Games user plays once daily. You will display up to 16 words at a time. Your objective is to organize them into 4 groups of 4 words each that have something in common in order to create 4 distinct the groupings will then relate back to the associated colours with a common method of determining the difficulty level of this association from Yellow to Purple.

Categories created through logical reasoning, creative thinking and visual pattern recognition to establish these groupings will eliminate pairing two of the same word without having first established an association.

How to Play the NYT Connections Puzzle?

To play NYT Connections, first scan the 16 words in the 4 rows of words, searching for groups of 4 words that are related to each other. After finding the last group, submit that group either by selecting "submit" next to it or by double-clicking on it. When you submit a group correctly, it will be removed from the list of available words; when you submit a group incorrectly, your number of tries in that given round will decrease. 

You may find that the categories of words in a group will be very apparent to you or that they will be much harder for you to deduce. Some categories can be words that are made up of puns or have a double meaning. So be sure to use your imagination when studying each of the items in each puzzle; there will always be a handful of items that will require you to think outside the box or to consider how the word has been used in relation to the crossword puzzle to be able to complete the entire puzzle.

Best Strategies to Solve NYT Connections Puzzles

You can make the best connections when playing NYC Connections by first finishing obvious, easy connections before tackling those that are harder to build later. Some of the easiest ways I can identify these obvious connections include words that have similar meaning, words that may have multiple definitions or phrases that can actually be defined differently but through context are connected in some fashion.

The reason you may be unsuccessful in finding a `solution` to a puzzle before you discover an alternative answer to a specific combination of letters is because almost every puzzle has some form of `distraction`. 

Therefore try to think outside of the box when trying to find other words by rearranging how those letters fit together within your own mind by using creative reasoning as a tool as well as changing up how different versions of the same word may be defined. 

Other NYT Games to Explore

If NYT Connections has become your new favorite, check out other daily brain teasers and games from The New York Times. 

Wordle: Guess a five-letter word in six attempts. 

Spelling Bee: Craft as many words as possible from a set of seven letters.

Mini Crossword: For a quick wordplay, perfect for a coffee break.

That's all for today's NYT Connections puzzle! Be sure to come back tomorrow for NYT Connections Hints and Answers for May 15, 2026.