The Monday edition of NYT Connections arrives with puzzle #1135, serving up a grid that rewards sharp verb sense, digital fluency, familiar expressions, and a final bit of prefix surgery.
What Makes Connections Tick
For newcomers, NYT Connections presents 16 words that must be sorted into four thematic groups of four. The twist? You're limited to four mistakes, and the color-coded difficulty system (yellow being easiest, purple being trickiest) means surface-level connections often mislead.
Since its June 2023 launch, Connections has carved out its niche in the Times' puzzle ecosystem, standing alongside Wordle and the crossword as a daily ritual for millions of players worldwide. The game's genius lies in its red herrings, words that could fit multiple categories but belong in only one.
Today's Grid at a Glance
Here are the 16 words staring back at you in puzzle #1135:
OYSTER | MEADOW | WISDOM | SOUND
BUTTON | BUBBLE TEA | PORTOBELLO | MENU
TRUMPET | ICON | HERALD | SWINE
SAKES | BLARE | LINK | ALEXA
A seemingly random collection that somehow connects into four perfect categories.
Strategic Hints (No Spoilers Yet)
Yellow Category Nudge: Think about making information known, especially with enough force to command attention.
Green Category Clue: Picture the elements you routinely select while navigating a website or app.
Blue Category Hint: Look for four different settings where the same small, rounded treasure appears literally or figuratively.
Purple Category Teaser: Inspect the beginnings of the remaining entries, then consider what could be poured into a glass.
The Full Solutions
Last chance to solve independently: answers below
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Yellow (Announce): BLARE, HERALD, SOUND, TRUMPET
BLARE, HERALD, SOUND, and TRUMPET can all mean to announce or proclaim something.
BLARE, SOUND, and TRUMPET strongly suggest noise, but HERALD broadens the set from audible signals to the general act of announcing.
Green (Things To Click): BUTTON, ICON, LINK, MENU
BUTTON, ICON, LINK, and MENU are all interface elements that users click.
BUTTON also drives the grid's sharpest decoy because button, oyster, portobello, and meadow are all names used for mushrooms.
Blue (Associated With Pearls): BUBBLE TEA, OYSTER, SWINE, WISDOM
BUBBLE TEA, OYSTER, SWINE, and WISDOM are associated with pearls.
Bubble tea contains tapioca pearls, oysters can produce pearls, and the expressions are pearls before swine and pearls of wisdom. OYSTER also feeds the mushroom decoy alongside BUTTON, MEADOW, and PORTOBELLO.
Purple (Starting With Alcoholic Beverages): ALEXA, MEADOW, PORTOBELLO, SAKES
ALEXA, MEADOW, PORTOBELLO, and SAKES each start with the name of an alcoholic beverage.
The openings are ALE in ALEXA, MEAD in MEADOW, PORT in PORTOBELLO, and SAKE in SAKES. MEADOW and PORTOBELLO are especially slippery because both also fit the mushroom decoy.
The Verdict
The announcing verbs provide the cleanest opening, with four direct synonyms and little ambiguity once HERALD is included.
The real trap is the convincing mushroom quartet of BUTTON, OYSTER, MEADOW, and PORTOBELLO, which pulls one entry from green, one from blue, and two from purple.
Purple is the streak-deciding group because recognizing ALE, MEAD, PORT, and SAKE at the starts of longer words is what finally dismantles that decoy.
Reset and Repeat
Today's grid is a fine reminder that a perfect-looking extra category can be bait, especially when four mushroom names cut across three answers.
Reset tomorrow and look closely at word openings again, because the hidden ALE, MEAD, PORT, and SAKE made this puzzle's best trick worth remembering.
For now, puzzle #1135 is solved. See you at midnight for the next round.
