NYT Connections — August 16, 2026
Hints — one at a time
Hint 1 of 5
Today's board moves from words for a live music event, to words for someone taking part in something, to prefixes that modify family relationships, to English meanings hidden inside the scientific names of early humans.
Hint 2 of 5
Yellow (easiest): each word can describe a live music event, whether at a stadium or a small club.
Hint 3 of 5
Green: these all describe someone involved or taking part in something, whether on stage, in a deal, or in a game.
Hint 4 of 5
Blue: each word can attach to a family term to describe a relative who isn't quite immediate — think in-laws, remarriage, or generations removed.
Hint 5 of 5
Purple (hardest): each phrase is the literal English meaning tucked inside the Latin or place-name label scientists gave to a different early human species.
The answer — spoilers!
Reveal the full answer
Musical Performance
CONCERT · GIG · SET · SHOW
Participant
ACTOR · AGENT · PARTY · PLAYER
Family Relationship Modifiers
GRAND · GREAT · HALF · STEP
Descriptors For Our Human Ancestors
FROM NEANDER · HANDY · UPRIGHT · WISE
This puzzle by the numbers
- Descriptors For Our Human Ancestors
- FROM NEANDER
Counted from our own archive of NYT Connections answers — not published anywhere else.
