NYT Connections Hints Today: Check Answers and Clues, April 23, 2026

Every day, NYT Games provides players with a new challenge called "Connections", in which the object is to sort sixteen words into four categories of four words each based on the commonalities or relationships shared among the words. 

There are many different types of commonalities and/or relationships that may exist between the words, including some that are more straightforward and others that are much more abstract like puns, cultural references, traits or characteristics.

April 24, 2026, edition, this will contain an entirely new board and players will once again be tasked with grouping four words into thematic categories of four words each.

This puzzle is designed for players to find associations while avoiding "bait-and-switch" traps. While you're sorting through the words, you will see many words from within the same category connecting in ways you'd never expect  it can cause you to lose track of where you've already placed the word.

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

Hints for NYT Connections April 23, 2026  

Here are the hints for NYT Connections, April 23, 2026, Puzzle #1047. 

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: BORDER

GREEN:  KINDS OF FICTION

BLUE: WORDS IN A PLANETARY MNEMONIC 

PURPLE:  STARTING WITH FOUR-LETTER '80S BANDS 

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 April 23, 2026 (Thursday)

Here are the solutions for NYT Connections Puzzle #1047 for April 23, 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!

YELLOW: BORDER (FLANK, NEIGHBOR, SKIRT, TOUCH)

GREEN: KINDS OF FICTION (HISTORICAL, LITERARY, PULP, SCIENCE)

BLUE: WORDS IN A PLANETARY MNEMONIC (EDUCATED, MOTHER, MY VERY)

PURPLE: STARTING WITH FOUR-LETTER '80S BANDS (ASIAGO, DEVOTE, TOTORO, WHAMMY)

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

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?

New York Times Connections is an entertaining word association game created by The New York Times that requires players to find four different categories for 16 completely random words. 

To finish each puzzle, you must rely on logic, strategy, patience, vocabulary skills, reasoning skills, and pattern recognition skills. 

All ages will enjoy this type of activity! Unlike most casual games, Connections challenges even the best wordfinders!

How to Play the NYT Connections Puzzle?

In the Connections game, players receive 16 random words with completely distinct letters from those of other players. 

Players are to rely on the properties of the letters that were randomly determined in order to find logical associations with the same four sets of letters.

There are many of the 16 random words with different forms of each letter that can match up with more than one of the 16 random words so that players of this game must use reasoning and critical thinking when attempting to complete the classification of the words to the corresponding sets of letters.

Players will use a combination of pattern recognition and strategic thinking along with making errors as needed to correctly perform the function of the game.

Best Strategies to Solve NYT Connections Puzzles

Players may find it helpful to start with a large "cluster" of words (the most significant) when searching for words for an NYT Connections Puzzle and using that to create other word clusters. 

This will provide a great starting point of clusters you can use to complete the NYT Connections Puzzle by searching for synonyms, and/or words related to color, animal, shape or profession, etc. 

So, these strategies would give you a significant increase in words you can complete for an NYT Connections Puzzle which would increase your chances of completing the puzzle at all!!

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 April 24, 2026.