The Thursday edition of NYT Connections arrives with puzzle #1138, serving up a grid that rewards shape recognition, emotional vocabulary, travel know-how, and a sharp eye for hidden word endings.
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 #1138:
JANGLE | INTENSE | ORANGE | FELINE
FEBRILE | BASEBALL | MARBLE | APRON
APPOINT | TERMINAL | EXCITED | RUNWAY
FRENETIC | HANGAR | DEPLANE | GLOBE
A seemingly random collection that somehow connects into four perfect categories.
Strategic Hints (No Spoilers Yet)
Yellow Category Nudge: Think about familiar objects that share the same three-dimensional form.
Green Category Clue: Look for adjectives describing someone whose nerves and energy are running unusually high.
Blue Category Hint: Picture the infrastructure you encounter before an aircraft takes off or after it lands.
Purple Category Teaser: Inspect the ends of the remaining words and recall terms from math class.
The Full Solutions
Last chance to solve independently: answers below
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Yellow (Spherical Things): BASEBALL, GLOBE, MARBLE, ORANGE
BASEBALL, GLOBE, MARBLE, and ORANGE are all spherical things. The category is concrete and visually immediate, making it the cleanest opening group.
Green (In An Anxious State): EXCITED, FEBRILE, FRENETIC, INTENSE
EXCITED, FEBRILE, FRENETIC, and INTENSE can each describe an anxious or highly agitated state. FEBRILE is the vocabulary checkpoint, since it can mean feverish as well as intensely nervous or excited.
Blue (Parts Of An Airport): APRON, HANGAR, RUNWAY, TERMINAL
APRON, HANGAR, RUNWAY, and TERMINAL are parts of an airport. The apron is the paved area where aircraft park, load, unload, and refuel.
DEPLANE creates the grid's strongest red herring because it also belongs naturally in airport language, but it is reserved for the wordplay group.
Purple (Ending In Geometry Terms): APPOINT, DEPLANE, FELINE, JANGLE
APPOINT ends in POINT, DEPLANE ends in PLANE, FELINE ends in LINE, and JANGLE ends in ANGLE. Those four endings are geometry terms hidden intact at the backs of longer words.
The Verdict
The spherical set should fall first, while the real trap sits around the airport group, where DEPLANE looks more inviting than the less familiar APRON.
The purple group is the streak-decider because its geometry terms appear only as endings, and spotting PLANE inside DEPLANE requires setting aside the airport meaning.
Reset and Repeat
Today's standout move was hiding POINT, PLANE, LINE, and ANGLE in plain sight at the ends of ordinary words. Reset the grid tomorrow and look closely at word boundaries before committing to the most obvious theme.
For now, puzzle #1138 is solved. See you at midnight for the next round.
