NYT Connections — August 2, 2026
Hints — one at a time
Hint 1 of 5
Today's board mixes verbal tics, ways of saying "by means of," phone and dessert settings, and a sneaky airport-code trick.
Hint 2 of 5
The easiest group collects little words people toss into a sentence without adding real meaning — like starting a story with "So" or "Well."
Hint 3 of 5
Another group is all about getting somewhere or something through a particular method or route.
Hint 4 of 5
A trickier group completes a phrase you'd finish with the word "mode" — think a phone setting, an intense focus, a display option, or a dessert style.
Hint 5 of 5
The hardest group hides a U.S. airport code inside each word once you drop the very first letter — look for Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago, and LaGuardia.
The answer — spoilers!
Reveal the full answer
Filler Words
ACTUALLY · LIKE · SO · WELL
By Means Of
BY · PER · THROUGH · VIA
___ Mode
AIRPLANE · BEAST · DARK · À LA
U.S. Airport Code Hidden Inside
ASEA · FLAX · LORD · OLGA
This puzzle by the numbers
- U.S. Airport Code Hidden Inside
- ACTUALLY
Counted from our own archive of NYT Connections answers — not published anywhere else.
