NYT Connections Answers Today, September 10: Another exciting Connections puzzle for Thursday is provided in The New York Times newspaper on September 10, 2026. This time around, the players will have to identify four connections between 16 words once again.
As always, the words are categorized in four groups of four and their categories are getting increasingly difficult from yellow to purple ones. This particular puzzle is associated with some elements of chemistry, various things found at home, music and wordplay. There is one group that would particularly interest Bruce Springsteen fans.
If you are trying to protect your daily streak, here are the hints, answers and a quick look back at Wednesday’s puzzle.
What is NYT Connections?
Connections is an everyday word game that appears in The New York Times in which the player is required to classify sixteen words into four groups of four based on some common link among the words in each group. The game has four levels of difficulty, denoted by different colors such as yellow, green, blue and purple, where yellow represents the easiest level and purple is the trickiest.
How to Play NYT Connections
- Study all 16 words before making a selection.
- Look for four words that clearly share a connection.
- Select those four and submit your guess.
- Remember that some words are deliberately designed to fit more than one possible category.
- You have four incorrect guesses before the game is over.
- Work from the most obvious category toward the more difficult ones.
Today’s Connections Words for 10 September (Thursday)
Today’s 16 answers fall into four distinct groups:
- Actinium
- Krypton
- Lead
- Sulfur
- Air conditioner
- Catio
- Clothesline
- Flower box
- Atlantic City
- Badlands
- Born to Run
- Thunder Road
- Adult contemporary
- Alternating current
- Represent
- Sextant
The puzzle mixes science, everyday objects, music and a clever linguistic pattern.
Today’s Connections Hints for 10 September (Thursday)
If you want some help without seeing the full answers, these four clues point toward today’s categories:
- 🟨 Yellow: Think about the periodic table.
- 🟩 Green: What could you see extending outward from a house window?
- 🟦 Blue: Think of “The Boss.”
- 🟪 Purple: Pay attention to the endings of the words or phrases.
The purple group is likely to be the biggest stumbling block because its connection is based on word endings rather than straightforward meanings.
NYT Connections Answers for 10 September (#1187)
Here are the complete solutions for Thursday’s puzzle:
- 🟨 Chemical elements: Actinium, Krypton, Lead, Sulfur
- 🟩 What you might see sticking out of a window: Air conditioner, Catio, Clothesline, Flower box
- 🟦 Bruce Springsteen classics: Atlantic City, Badlands, Born to Run, Thunder Road
- 🟪 Ending in synonyms for “happening now”: Adult contemporary, Alternating current, Represent, Sextant
The Springsteen category is especially recognizable once “The Boss” becomes the clue. The purple set is more deceptive because the relevant endings include words such as contemporary, current, present and extant, all of which connect to the idea of something happening or existing now.
Yesterday’s NYT Connections Answers for 09 September (#1186)
Wednesday’s puzzle had a noticeably different mix of categories:
- 🟨 Hard to understand: Bewildering, Esoteric, Incomprehensible, Opaque
- 🟩 Words with “small” prefixes: Microbrewery, Minivan, Nanotechnology, Picosecond
- 🟦 Horror movies: Arachnophobia, Halloween, IT, Saw
- 🟪 Words before “force”: Brute, Electromagnetic, G, Task
The previous puzzle also used 16 words across four groups, with the final category requiring players to recognize familiar phrases such as “brute force,” “task force” and “G-force.”
Tips to Solve NYT Connections
- Start with the obvious: Look for a group with four unmistakable matches.
- Watch for red herrings: A word can appear to belong to multiple categories.
- Consider word structure: Prefixes, suffixes and endings often matter.
- Think beyond definitions: Proper names, titles and cultural references can form categories.
- Leave purple for later: The hardest group frequently relies on wordplay.
- Use the mistake limit wisely: Four wrong attempts can end your game, so avoid guessing when the connection is uncertain.
- Recheck the leftovers: Once one group is removed, relationships among the remaining words often become much clearer.
FAQs About NYT Connections
1. How many words are in NYT Connections?
Each daily puzzle contains 16 words, which must be divided into four groups of four.
2. How many mistakes can you make?
Players can make up to four incorrect guesses before the puzzle ends.
3. What is the hardest Connections category?
Purple is officially the most difficult color category and commonly contains wordplay or less obvious connections.
4. What are the September 10 Connections answers?
The four groups are chemical elements, things that might stick out of a window, Bruce Springsteen classics, and words ending in synonyms for “happening now.”
5. What were the September 9 Connections answers?
Puzzle #1186 featured hard-to-understand words, small-prefix words, horror movies and words that can precede “force.”
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Disclaimer: This guide contains spoilers for NYT Connections #1187 and is based on the puzzle information and published references available for September 10, 2026.
