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NYT Connections game #994 was released on Sunday, March 1, 2026. Below, the hints come first, followed by the 16-tile grid, category themes and complete answers so you can stop reading before the spoilers. The daily game resets at midnight in each time zone; if your puzzle number is not #994, check your local date before using these answers. TechRadar notes that timing can vary by location.
Today’s NYT Connections hints
Try these broad clues before revealing any category names or tile groupings:
- Yellow: Small foods served as appetizers.
- Green: Protective gear and tools associated with construction.
- Blue: Things commonly used to suggest travel or vacation.
- Purple: Phrases containing food-related words that do not describe actual food.
These clues are deliberately general. The exact groups and answers appear below.
The 16 words in game #994
Here is the unsolved grid, with multiword entries kept as single tiles:
| LADDER | PALM TREE | HARD HAT | FINGER FOOD |
| KNUCKLE SANDWICH | TAPA | NAIL GUN | JOHANNESBURGER |
| AIRPLANE | LICORICE PIZZA | TOOL BELT | LUGGAGE |
| CANAPÉ | SMILING FACE WITH SUNGLASSES | COPYPASTA | HORS D’OEUVRE |
Category themes
Spoiler warning: the four category names are revealed here.
- Yellow: LITTLE BITE
- Green: CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT
- Blue: VACATION EMOJI
- Purple: THINGS YOU DON’T EAT THAT END IN FOODS
Guides use slightly different plain-English descriptions—such as “small plates,” “builder’s stuff” and “holiday mode”—but identify the same four groups. See the confirmations from WePC and The Sunday Guardian.
Rank #2
NYT Connections answers for March 1, 2026
Full-spoiler warning: the complete solution is below.
| Color | Category | Answers |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow | LITTLE BITE | CANAPÉ; FINGER FOOD; HORS D’OEUVRE; TAPA |
| Green | CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT | HARD HAT; LADDER; NAIL GUN; TOOL BELT |
| Blue | VACATION EMOJI | AIRPLANE; LUGGAGE; PALM TREE; SMILING FACE WITH SUNGLASSES |
| Purple | THINGS YOU DON’T EAT THAT END IN FOODS | COPYPASTA; JOHANNESBURGER; KNUCKLE SANDWICH; LICORICE PIZZA |
The grid, category labels and groupings are also reported by TechRadar, The Independent’s syndicated guide and The Sunday Guardian.
A practical solving order
If you are still playing and want a systematic route, this order removes the most concrete groups first:
- Construction site: select HARD HAT, LADDER, NAIL GUN and TOOL BELT.
- Appetizers: select CANAPÉ, FINGER FOOD, HORS D’OEUVRE and TAPA.
- Travel symbols: select AIRPLANE, LUGGAGE, PALM TREE and SMILING FACE WITH SUNGLASSES.
- Wordplay: the remaining COPYPASTA, JOHANNESBURGER, KNUCKLE SANDWICH and LICORICE PIZZA form the final group.
Why game #994 was tricky
Food words create red herrings
FINGER FOOD looks like a broad description rather than a precise tile, while KNUCKLE SANDWICH sounds edible even though it is an idiom for a punch. COPYPASTA also resembles a dish because of “pasta.”
The purple group is deliberately nonliteral
JOHANNESBURGER and LICORICE PIZZA look like restaurant items, but the puzzle uses them as food-sounding phrases rather than actual dishes. The category is about the impression created by the wording, not a shared cuisine or verified origin.
The blue group is associative
VACATION EMOJI is a visual or cultural grouping: AIRPLANE, PALM TREE, LUGGAGE and SMILING FACE WITH SUNGLASSES are travel symbols, although not every entry is literally an emoji in the same technical sense.
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HARD HAT is protective gear, LADDER is access equipment, NAIL GUN is a power tool and TOOL BELT carries tools. They belong together because they are associated with construction sites, not because they are identical kinds of equipment.
Quick Recap
Game details
- This was the Sunday, March 1, 2026 puzzle, game #994.
- The board contains 16 tiles divided into four groups of four.
- Third-party guides consistently report a maximum of four mistakes before the game ends; TechRadar describes that allowance.
- If your local game shows another number, the midnight time-zone rollover may be the reason.
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