- Puzzle Number 986: Today’s challenge features a heavy emphasis on attendance terminology and sneaky car-brand wordplay.
- Difficulty Rating: Moderate (3/5), as the purple category requires identifying hidden prefixes rather than direct synonyms.
- Winning Strategy: Isolate the attendance statuses (Green) early to clear the board for the more abstract linguistic connections.
Waking up to a fresh grid in the New York Times daily puzzle suite has become a morning ritual for millions, but the February 21, 2026, board brings a particular brand of mischief that might stall your streak. Whether you are one swap away from a “Phew” or just starting your coffee, navigating the overlap between car brands and professional status requires a sharp eye. Today’s puzzle, officially recognized as #986, balances straightforward synonyms with the classic NYT “gotcha” hidden in the purple tiles.
Quick Difficulty Analysis
While the Yellow group is relatively intuitive for seasoned players, the Blue group uses meta-commentary that often appears in our previous NYT Connections guides. The real hurdle is the Purple category, which uses “plus-one” wordplay to mask its true theme.
Hints for Today’s Connections
If you aren’t ready for the full spoilers yet, use these directional hints to nudge your brain in the right direction. Remember, the grid is designed to distract you with words that could fit into multiple themes.
- Yellow Group: Think about what a recruiter looks for in a CV or what defines a person’s professional journey.
- Green Group: These are the words a teacher might mark in a ledger during the first five minutes of class.
- Blue Group: These four words describe the feedback or feelings you might have after successfully solving a difficult task.
- Purple Group: Every word in this category contains a hidden name of a major automotive manufacturer, though they are wearing “linguistic costumes.”
If you find yourself struggling with the specific sports-themed nuances often found in the NYT Connections Sports Edition, don’t worry—today’s main puzzle stays strictly within general culture and wordplay.
NYT Connections Answers for 21 February 2026
The moment of truth has arrived. If you’ve exhausted your attempts or simply want to protect your long-standing streak, here are the finalized groupings for puzzle #986.
| Category | Words |
|---|---|
| Yellow: Personal History | BACKGROUND, EXPERIENCE, HISTORY, PAST |
| Green: Attendance Status | ABSENT, EXCUSED, LATE, PRESENT |
| Blue: Connections Results Feedback | GREAT, PERFECT, PHEW, SOLID |
| Purple: Car Brands Plus a Letter | AUDITS (Audi), DODGERS (Dodge), INFINITIVE (Infiniti), MINION (Mini) |
Breaking Down the Logic
The Yellow and Green categories were the “anchors” today. Most players can quickly group Absent and Late together. However, the inclusion of Present—which could also mean a gift or a timeframe—is a classic distractor. By identifying Background and History, you likely narrowed the field significantly.
The Purple group is where the difficulty peaked. Recognizing Dodgers as more than just a baseball team requires looking for the “Dodge” within. This type of pattern recognition is a staple of the official NYT Games design philosophy, where the most difficult category often involves internal word structures rather than external definitions.
“The best strategy for Connections is often what you don’t click first. Eliminating the obvious synonyms allows the hidden wordplay to surface.”
With today’s puzzle solved, you can rest easy until the grid resets tomorrow. If you missed a day, be sure to check our archives for help on previous challenges to keep your cognitive skills sharp for the rest of 2026.
