NYT Connections — August 24, 2026
Hints — one at a time
Hint 1 of 5
Today's board moves from types of fish you might find at a seafood counter, to words meaning "most important," to slang from the world of professional wrestling, and finally to words built from a single letter's sound plus a tennis term.
Hint 2 of 5
Yellow (easiest): each of these is a species of fish swimming — or served — somewhere in the world.
Hint 3 of 5
Green: every word here can mean the most important or leading one of its kind.
Hint 4 of 5
Blue: fans of the wrestling ring will recognize each of these as jargon for a role or a trick of the trade.
Hint 5 of 5
Purple (hardest): say the first part of each word out loud — it's a single letter — then add a scoring or replay term from tennis.
The answer — spoilers!
Reveal the full answer
Fish
MULLET · PIKE · SOLE · TANG
Principal
ARCH · CHIEF · MAIN · PRIME
Pro-Wrestling Lingo
FACE · HEEL · JOBBER · KAYFABE
Letter Homophone Plus Tennis Term
BESET · DESERVE · EX-LOVE · EYELET
This puzzle by the numbers
- Letter Homophone Plus Tennis Term
- KAYFABE
Counted from our own archive of NYT Connections answers — not published anywhere else.
