NYT Connections puzzle #1004, for Wednesday, March 11, 2026, groups its 16 tiles around stealing, phrases ending in “up,” kinds of cones, and pronoun homophones. Start with the spoiler-free clues below or jump to the answer section when you’re ready.
Progressive hints for Connections #1004
Use these clues in order; each points toward a category without giving away its tiles.
- Yellow: Deftly burgle.
- Green: Improvements.
- Blue: Conical variety.
- Purple: Sound like people.
Spoilers: the categories and answers
The complete groupings for Wednesday’s puzzle are:
| Category | Tiles | How they fit |
|---|---|---|
| STEAL | LIFT, PALM, PINCH, POCKET | Each word can mean to steal. |
| MAKE NICER, WITH “UP” | DRESS, JAZZ, SPIFF, SPRUCE | Each forms a phrase with “up”: dress up, jazz up, spiff up, and spruce up. |
| KINDS OF CONES | ICE CREAM, PINE, SNOW, TRAFFIC | Each pairs with “cone”: ice cream cone, pine cone, snow cone, and traffic cone. |
| PRONOUN HOMOPHONES | HEE, MI, OUI, YEW | They sound like “he,” “me,” “we,” and “you,” respectively. |
The tree-group red herring
PALM, SPRUCE, PINE, and YEW all look like they could form a tree category. They do not: PALM belongs with the words meaning “steal,” while SPRUCE completes “spruce up.” The puzzle instead uses PINE and YEW in the cone and pronoun-sound groups.
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Puzzle identity and difficulty
This is game #1004, dated Wednesday, March 11, 2026. Because the daily game becomes available at midnight in each time zone, “today’s” puzzle can differ by location; the date and number here identify the specific grid. PC Guide reports a New York Times difficulty rating of 1.8 out of 5; that figure is reported by PC Guide rather than independently verified against the NYT page.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How Connections works
Connections presents 16 items to sort into four groups of four. A fourth incorrect guess ends the game, according to Forbes’s description. Forbes also reports that the puzzle archive is available to readers with an NYT Games or All Access subscription; access terms can change.
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