The Tuesday edition of NYT Connections arrives with puzzle #1157, serving up a grid that rewards familiarity with television, rhythmic public sales, bleak verdicts, and sound-based anatomy.
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 #1157:
TOAST | AYE | BRAVO | SOLD
BET | DONE | HISTORY | KNOWS
HARE | GOING | THROUGH | TWICE
ONCE | SUNK | TUNG | USA
A seemingly random collection that somehow connects into four perfect categories.
Strategic Hints (No Spoilers Yet)
Yellow Category Nudge: Think of blunt descriptions for a situation that has no chance of recovery.
Green Category Clue: Look toward familiar television destinations available beyond the broadcast networks.
Blue Category Hint: Listen for the rhythmic language used when bids are called and an item changes hands.
Purple Category Teaser: Say the entries aloud and consider parts of the face rather than their written meanings.
The Full Solutions
Last chance to solve independently: answers below
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Yellow (Doomed): DONE, SUNK, THROUGH, TOAST
DONE, SUNK, THROUGH, and TOAST all describe someone or something as DOOMED.
DONE also brushes against SOLD as a marker of completion, while THROUGH can suggest the endpoint of a process, making the grid's finality language especially slippery.
Green (Basic Cable Channels): BET, BRAVO, HISTORY, USA
BET, BRAVO, HISTORY, and USA are BASIC CABLE CHANNELS.
Their ordinary meanings disguise the shared television identity, with BRAVO also sounding like an approving call and BET reading naturally as a wager.
Blue (Words In An Auctioneer's Chant): GOING, ONCE, SOLD, TWICE
GOING, ONCE, SOLD, and TWICE are WORDS IN AN AUCTIONEER'S CHANT, forming the familiar progression toward the close of bidding.
SOLD is the strongest anchor, but its sense of finality overlaps neatly with DONE, while ONCE and TWICE can initially look like a simple counting pair.
Purple (Homophones Of Facial Features): AYE, HARE, KNOWS, TUNG
AYE, HARE, KNOWS, and TUNG are HOMOPHONES OF FACIAL FEATURES: eye, hair, nose, and tongue.
The trick depends entirely on sound, and TUNG provides the clearest signal because its unusual spelling invites a spoken reading.
The Verdict
The yellow set is the cleanest opening once DONE, SUNK, THROUGH, and TOAST are read as blunt judgments rather than literal objects or actions.
The real trap sits between DONE and SOLD, whose shared sense of completion can pull attention away from the auction cadence.
Purple is the streak-deciding group because AYE, HARE, KNOWS, and TUNG refuse to cooperate until the solver switches from spelling to sound.
Reset and Repeat
Today's standout move was the facial-feature sound trick, a satisfying reminder to read a stubborn grid aloud. Reset tomorrow with that lesson ready for the next set of sixteen.
For now, puzzle #1157 is solved. See you at midnight for the next round.
