Waking up to a grid of sixteen words can feel like a personal attack. You've got your coffee, you're ready to win, and then the NYT Connections puzzle for September 26 drops. It’s one of those days where the words seem to belong everywhere and nowhere all at once. If you are searching for a Connections hint September 26 to save your streak, you aren't alone.
Puzzle editor Wyna Liu has a knack for this. She finds these tiny linguistic intersections that make total sense—but only after you’ve already lost three lives. The September 26 puzzle is a classic example of "red herrings" at their finest. You see a word, you think you know its partner, and suddenly you're staring at a "One Away" message that feels like a slap in the face.
What Makes the September 26 Puzzle So Tricky?
Basically, it’s the overlap. In the world of Connections, the difficulty isn't usually the words themselves. Most of us know what "Feta" or "Swiss" is. The challenge is the "overlap." That’s when a word could easily fit into two or three different categories. On September 26, the game developers lean heavily into categories that feel broad but are actually quite specific.
The Yellow category is almost always the "straightforward" one. Think of it as the literal group. But as you move toward Blue and Purple, the logic becomes more abstract. For September 26, you might see words that look like they belong to a kitchen, but they actually belong to a geometry textbook. Or words that look like they are about money but are actually about… cheese.
Breaking Down the September 26 Categories
Let's look at the groups without giving it all away just yet.
First, there is often a group that deals with types of things. On this specific date, players encountered a group of words that all shared a common physical characteristic. Think about things that have holes in them. Or things that are crumbly. If you see words like Swiss or Lacy, your brain immediately jumps to cheese or fabric. But wait—what about Donut? Suddenly, the "Cheese" category falls apart and you realize the connection is actually "Things with Holes."
💡 You might also like: Getting Your Tudor Period Dress to Impress Look Right Without Looking Like a Costume
The Subtle Art of the Red Herring
The NYT team loves to put two words together that should be a pair. For the Connections hint September 26 seekers, the biggest trap is often the "Food" trap. You might see four words that all look like snacks. If you select them all, you might get lucky, or you might find that "Donut" actually belonged with "O" and "Bagel" in a category about shapes.
Honestly, the best strategy is to look for the "outlier." Which word is so weird that it can only mean one thing?
A Closer Look at the Word List
On September 26, the word list included some gems.
- Swiss: Most people think cheese. Correct. But it’s also a type of watch, a bank, or a type of chard.
- Cheddar: Slang for money? Maybe. But usually, it's just cheese.
- Feta: This is almost always cheese. It’s hard to put Feta in a category about anything else.
- Jack: This is the danger word. Is it a tool for a car? A playing card? A name? Or is it Monterey Jack?
If you see Swiss, Cheddar, Feta, and Jack, you have a perfect category: Types of Cheese. This is your Yellow or Green group. It’s the safety net.
✨ Don't miss: Finding Every Captain Scarlett Message in a Bottle: Why Most Players Miss the Best Loot
Moving into the "Purple" Zone
The Purple category is the "Wordplay" category. It’s the one that makes you groan when the answer is revealed. Often, it involves a "Blank " or " Blank" structure. For the Connections hint September 26, keep an eye out for words that follow a specific prefix.
Think about the word "Bread." What can come before it? Garlic bread? Sourdough? Penny?
What about "Monkey?" Monkey wrench? Monkey bars? Monkey business?
If you see Business, Wrench, and Bars, you aren't looking for a "Construction" category. You are looking for things that follow the word "Monkey."
Why We Get Obsessed With These Puzzles
There is a real psychological reason why people scramble for a Connections hint September 26 every year. It’s called "Aha!" insight. Researchers like Mark Beeman have studied this. When your brain finally connects two seemingly unrelated ideas, you get a literal rush of dopamine. It feels good to be smart.
But when you're stuck? It’s frustrating. Your brain gets stuck in a "functional fixedness" loop. You see "Jack" and you can only think of a car jack. You can't see it as cheese. Taking a break—literally walking away for five minutes—allows your brain to reset and break that fixation.
Actionable Tips for Solving Connections Every Day
Don't just click. That's the biggest mistake.
- Shuffle the board constantly. Your brain tends to pair words based on their physical proximity on the screen. Shuffling breaks those false visual connections.
- Find the "unique" word. Look for the word that has the fewest possible meanings. If "Quark" is on the board, it's either physics or cheese. It's rarely anything else.
- Say the words out loud. Sometimes hearing the word helps you find the "Blank ____" connection that your eyes missed.
- Work backward from Purple. If you can spot the wordplay group first, the rest of the puzzle becomes a cakewalk.
Final Verdict on the September 26 Puzzle
The September 26 puzzle relies heavily on your ability to categorize items by their properties rather than their names. Whether it’s types of cheese or things that are "Sharp" (Cheese, Wit, Knife, Image), the game is testing your mental flexibility.
If you're still stuck, look at your remaining words and ask: "If I had to describe these to a five-year-old, what one word would I use for all of them?"
To master Connections long-term, start keeping a mental log of common NYT tropes. They love "Words that start with a Greek Letter," "Palindromes," and "Homophones for numbers." Once you see the pattern, you stop seeing sixteen words and start seeing four puzzles waiting to be solved.
Check your "Cheese" group first, look for the "Monkey" wordplay, and remember that "Jack" is almost always a trap unless it's paired with "Monterey."
Go back to the grid. Look at the words one more time. The answer is usually hiding in plain sight, disguised as a word you thought you already understood.