NYT Connections — August 25, 2026
Hints — one at a time
Hint 1 of 5
Today's board moves from words describing something shallow or only skin-deep, to concepts you'd expect in a science fiction story, to movies based on Stephen King novels, and finally to phrases that end with something you'd order at an ice cream counter.
Hint 2 of 5
Yellow (easiest): each of these describes something that only exists on the outside, without any real depth.
Hint 3 of 5
Green: these are all concepts you might encounter in a story about space travel or alternate realities.
Hint 4 of 5
Blue: add "The" in front of each of these and you get a movie based on a Stephen King story.
Hint 5 of 5
Purple (hardest): the last word of each phrase is something you'd ask for at an ice cream shop.
The answer — spoilers!
Reveal the full answer
Surface-Level
COSMETIC · ONE-DIMENSIONAL · SKIN-DEEP · SUPERFICIAL
Sci-Fi Phenomena
HYPERSPACE · PARALLEL UNIVERSE · TELEPORTATION · TIME WARP
Stephen King Film Adaptations, With "The"
GREEN MILE · LONG WALK · RUNNING MAN · SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
Ending In Ice Cream Orders
HARLEM SHAKE · INSIDE SCOOP · LICKETY-SPLIT · TRAFFIC CONE
This puzzle by the numbers
- Ending In Ice Cream Orders
- SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
Counted from our own archive of NYT Connections answers — not published anywhere else.
