I’m bringing you the latest on NYT Connections puzzles, and per Insider Gaming I’ve got the hints and the full answer breakdown for the Monday puzzle (#1135). If you play daily and want a fast leg-up on today’s grid, read on — but take this with a pinch of salt, as puzzles and reporting can be quirky.
What Was Reported
According to Insider Gaming, today’s 16-word grid contained the following words: OYSTER, MEADOW, WISDOM, SOUND, BUTTON, BUBBLE TEA, PORTOBELLO, MENU, TRUMPET, ICON, HERALD, SWINE, SAKES, BLARE, LINK, and ALEXA.
Insider Gaming offered four hints for grouping these words into the four NYT Connections categories:
- Yellow — Ways you might announce something
- Green — Things you’d click on a website or app
- Blue — Things that are associated with pearls
- Purple — Words that start with common alcoholic beverages
And the answers published by Insider Gaming for puzzle #1135 were given as:
- Yellow — BLARE, HERALD, SOUND, TRUMPET
- Green — BUTTON, ICON, LINK, MENU
- Blue — BUBBLE TEA, OYSTER, SWINE, WISDOM
- Purple — ALEXA, MEADOW, PORTOBELLO, SAKES
The report reiterated a few game mechanics details that players will recognise: NYT Connections provides a 16-word grid each day, players sort those into four groups of four, and the words are color-coded by difficulty (yellow, blue, green, purple). Insider Gaming also reminded readers that you get four guesses daily and that the game resets daily at midnight local time.
The Source & Credibility
This item was published on Insider Gaming and credited to Grant Taylor-Hill, who is identified on the page as Senior Editor and Esports Lead. Per the same reporting, Taylor-Hill has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+ years — credentials that the piece highlights.
Take this with a pinch of salt: the content is presented as a hints-and-answers guide rather than investigative reporting, and puzzle write-ups can contain typographical oddities or editorial choices. Still, if you’re chasing streaks, this is the kind of straight-up answer set many players will find useful.
What It Could Mean
If true, the published hints and answers do a few things for daily players. First, the Green set (BUTTON, ICON, LINK, MENU) is a textbook UI cluster, which makes it an easy find for many players who focus on interface-related groupings. Second, the Yellow cluster (BLARE, HERALD, SOUND, TRUMPET) follows the “announcement” hint cleanly — handy if you’re down to one guess and need a safe play.
The most eyebrow-raising element is the Purple hint as described by Insider Gaming: “Words that start with common alcoholic beverages.” The published purple answers are ALEXA, MEADOW, PORTOBELLO, SAKES. If you’re reading that and doing the quick head-tilt, I hear you — it’s an odd categorisation and one to approach skeptically. If this is an editorial shorthand or a subtle theme, it’s not immediately intuitive from the surface list, and that ambiguity is precisely why puzzle guides like this can divide opinion.
There’s also the Blue cluster — BUBBLE TEA, OYSTER, SWINE, WISDOM — described as “things that are associated with pearls.” That pairing is similarly unusual at first glance, and if true it underlines how NYT Connections can lean on layered meanings or playful associations rather than strict literal grouping.
Why This Matters
For regular players, a published answer set accelerates streak-saving decisions and can end a headache when you’re out of guesses. For puzzle-watchers, the particular hints and mappings published by Insider Gaming are a reminder that NYT Connections can use sideways logic and wordplay — meaning “safe” guesses aren’t always obvious.
I’m flagging this because, if you’re chasing a perfect run, reports like these are useful — but they’re also worth interrogating. The oddities in the purple and blue clusters show that even straightforward-seeming puzzles can fold in surprising reasoning. As always with daily puzzle spoilers, take these posted answers with a pinch of salt and use them how you see fit.
If you tried these groupings, I’d be keen to hear whether they matched your grid — and whether that purple cluster made you pause as much as it did me.
