The Wednesday edition of NYT Connections arrives with puzzle #1158, serving up a grid that rewards careful verb reading, animal knowledge, television recall, and a sharp eye for hidden openings.
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 #1158:
LEMON | TREE | HARBOR | FINE PRINT
GREAT WHITE | GREEN | GOODBYE | NURSE
BULL | BING | FOSTER | SCOTT
BENES | OKAYAMA | POISON DART | MAINTAIN
A seemingly random collection that somehow connects into four perfect categories.
Strategic Hints (No Spoilers Yet)
Yellow Category Nudge: Think about what someone can do with an emotion over time, especially when they keep it alive rather than letting it fade.
Green Category Clue: Leave abstract meanings behind and look toward amphibians with familiar descriptive names.
Blue Category Hint: Television is the right territory here, but first names will not unlock the set.
Purple Category Teaser: Inspect the beginnings of longer entries and listen for short replies that signal agreement.
The Full Solutions
Last chance to solve independently: answers below
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Yellow (Hold Onto, As A Feeling): FOSTER, HARBOR, MAINTAIN, NURSE
FOSTER, HARBOR, MAINTAIN, and NURSE can all mean to hold onto or sustain a feeling, as in fostering hope, harboring resentment, maintaining confidence, or nursing a grudge.
FOSTER and NURSE create a deliberate caregiving overlap, but their shared role here is figurative rather than occupational.
Green (Kinds Of Frogs): BULL, GREEN, POISON DART, TREE
BULL, GREEN, POISON DART, and TREE each complete the name of a kind of frog.
BULL can pull attention toward other animals in the grid, while GREEN and TREE look naturally compatible before their amphibian use becomes clear.
Blue (Nbc Sitcom Surnames): BENES, BING, LEMON, SCOTT
BENES, BING, LEMON, and SCOTT are the surnames of NBC sitcom characters Elaine Benes, Chandler Bing, Liz Lemon, and Michael Scott.
LEMON is the strongest decoy because its everyday meaning invites compound-word pairings, while the surname reading locks it beside the other television characters.
Purple (Starting With Affirmative Responses): FINE PRINT, GOODBYE, GREAT WHITE, OKAYAMA
FINE PRINT, GOODBYE, GREAT WHITE, and OKAYAMA begin with FINE, GOOD, GREAT, and OKAY, each of which can serve as an affirmative response.
The trick depends on splitting each full entry at its opening, so the apparent subjects of documents, farewells, sharks, and Japanese geography are distractions.
The Verdict
The frog set is the cleanest first foothold once the amphibian connection appears, while the feeling verbs demand more attention to flexible meanings.
The real trap sits around LEMON, GREEN, and TREE, which tempt a plausible nature-themed cluster even though they belong in two separate groups.
The purple group is the streak-saving test, since recognizing affirmative fragments matters more than interpreting each complete entry at face value.
Reset and Repeat
Today's best flourish is the affirmative-response trick, which turns four unrelated-looking entries into a precise final set.
Reset the grid tomorrow and look closely at both whole words and their openings, because the smallest structural detail can provide the decisive connection.
For now, puzzle #1158 is solved. See you at midnight for the next round.
