The NYT Connections puzzle for Sunday, September 20, 2026, is number 1197. Today’s challenge, curated by associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu, moves between common physical shapes and specific regional icons, with a category dedicated to a long-running cinematic subgenre.
Players looking to analyze their performance can utilize the Connections Bot, which provides a numeric score and a breakdown of how others tackled the same grid. For those still working through the 16 words, here are progressive hints to help solve the puzzle without jumping straight to the solutions.
Connections Hints for September 20
If you are stuck on a specific color group, these clues point toward the themes without naming the words directly:
- Yellow: These items are unified by their thin, circular physical profile.
- Green: Every word in this group is a famous export or cultural staple of the Bluegrass State.
- Blue: This group features titles of films where the protagonists (or antagonists) have a strictly liquid diet.
- Purple: These words all serve as a prefix to a specific type of board used for transport or recreation.
Stronger Hints
For the Green group, think about things you would see at Churchill Downs or find in a specific brand of fast-food bucket. For the Blue group, one title is a 2025 Ryan Coogler film starring Michael B. Jordan, while others date back to the late 80s and 90s.
Warning: Spoilers Below
The following section contains the completed groups and answers for today’s Connections puzzle.
Yellow: Round Flat Things
- Blu-Ray
- Coaster
- Sand Dollar
- Tortilla
These objects are all characterized by a disc-like shape, ranging from digital media and table protection to nature and food.
Green: Associated with Kentucky
- Bluegrass
- Bourbon
- Derby
- Fried Chicken
This category highlights Kentucky’s most famous cultural and agricultural contributions, from its signature music genre to its world-renowned horse race.
Blue: Vampire Movies
- Blade (1998)
- Near Dark (1987)
- Sinners (2025)
- Twilight (2008)
This category spans decades of vampire cinema. Notably, Sinners is the 2025 Ryan Coogler vampire film, appearing here alongside the cult classic Near Dark and the blockbuster Twilight.
Purple: ____ Boards You Ride On
- Hover
- Skate
- Snow
- Surf
Each of these words precedes “board” to describe a platform used for gliding across land, water, or air.
Connections was launched on June 12, 2023, and has since become one of the most popular daily games in the New York Times puzzle suite. Today’s puzzle #1197 continues the tradition of blending modern pop culture, like recent film releases, with more traditional word associations.
