Issue #1073 Tue 19 May
NYT Connections Hints & Answer — May 19, 2026
A grid that rewards second guesses. A few tiles sit comfortably in two places at once, and the day's last step asks you to read against the surface rather than with it.
Word meanings & definitions
Stuck on a tricky Connections word? Click any tile below to see its dictionary entry — handy when a familiar word might be hiding a less-obvious meaning.
BABBLE
- v. to talk rapidly and incoherently
- v. (of an infant) to make meaningless vocal sounds
- n. a continuous murmuring like running water
CRY
- v. to shed tears
- v. to shout or call out loudly
- n. an urgent public appeal
NURSE
- n. a person trained to care for the sick
- v. to feed an infant at the breast
- v. to tend or nurture something carefully
TEETHE
- v. to grow one's first set of teeth
ALTER
- v. to change or make different
- v. to take in or adjust a garment
- v. to neuter a domestic animal
COOK
- v. to prepare food using heat
- n. a person who prepares meals as a job
- v. (informal) to falsify accounts or records
DOCTOR
- n. a qualified medical practitioner
- n. a holder of the highest academic degree
- v. to tamper with so as to deceive
- v. to patch up or treat roughly
FUDGE
- n. a soft sugary confection
- v. to dodge or avoid committing to an issue
- v. to manipulate figures dishonestly
BLUBBER
- n. the insulating fat layer of whales
- v. to weep loudly and uncontrollably
- n. noisy, snuffling sobbing
DEENIE
- (not a standalone English word)
FOREVER
- adv. for all future time
- adv. (informal) for a tiresomely long while
- n. an endless stretch of time
SUPERFUDGE
- (not a standalone English word)
FOUNDER
- n. one who establishes an organization
- v. (of a vessel) to fill with water and sink
- v. to fail utterly or collapse
SALON
- n. an establishment offering hair or beauty services
- n. an elegant reception room for social gatherings
- n. a periodic exhibition of artworks
SURGEON
- n. a physician who operates on patients
- n. a commissioned medical officer aboard a ship
TROT
- v. to move at a pace between walking and running
- n. a horse's springy two-beat gait
- v. to bring out or recite for display
- n. (the trots, informal) a bout of diarrhea
yellow group 7 hints
Yellow group hints
A dim room at 3am, a brand-new person who can't yet say what's wrong, only that something is.
Everyday human behaviors tied to one stage of life.
Category-membership — all four belong to a single set.
Each answer is a single intransitive verb, and all four name behaviors characteristic of the same specific group of people.
THINGS BABIES DO
One is BABBLE.
BABBLE · CRY · NURSE · TEETHE
green group 7 hints
Green group hints
A nervous clerk slips one page out of the file and quietly reprints a friendlier version before the auditor walks in.
All four are verbs — things you do, not things you are.
Synonyms — under one shared sense, the four words all mean roughly the same thing.
It isn't each word's first dictionary entry that connects them; it's a single informal sense each one can carry.
MODIFY DECEPTIVELY
One is FUDGE — yes, spelled exactly like the candy.
ALTER · COOK · DOCTOR · FUDGE
blue group 7 hints
Blue group hints
A dog-eared paperback passed hand to hand under sixth-grade desks, spine cracked white from being reread so many times.
Fiction written for young and teenage readers.
Category membership — the four belong to one set, with no wordplay or hidden trick involved.
Each item is the title of a separate published work, and all four trace back to the same single creator.
JUDY BLUME BOOKS
One is SUPERFUDGE.
BLUBBER · DEENIE · FOREVER · SUPERFUDGE
violet group 7 hints
Violet group hints
Say each one slowly. Each rings a faint bell — like a word you almost recognize from somewhere you can't quite place.
A wordplay group — the meanings are a decoy; only the letters on the tile matter.
Near-misses — each tile sits exactly one letter away from a more familiar word.
The operation is one-directional: slip a single letter back into each tile — no swapping, no anagramming — and every result lands in the same noun class.
FISH MINUS A LETTER
FOUNDER becomes FLOUNDER once you put back the missing L.
FOUNDER (FLOUNDER) · SALON (SALMON) · SURGEON (STURGEON) · TROT (TROUT)
Spoiler zone
Complete Connections answer
Open only the solution you want to see. Each answer stays hidden until you choose to reveal it.
-
Reveal the yellow group
THINGS BABIES DOBABBLE · CRY · NURSE · TEETHE
-
Reveal the green group
MODIFY DECEPTIVELYALTER · COOK · DOCTOR · FUDGE
-
Reveal the blue group
JUDY BLUME BOOKSBLUBBER · DEENIE · FOREVER · SUPERFUDGE
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Reveal the violet group
FISH MINUS A LETTERFOUNDER · SALON · SURGEON · TROT
Verified solution for .
Frequently asked questions
Spoiler-free help for Connections on May 19, 2026. Every answer below helps you along without giving the game away — ready to see the full solution? See the complete Connections answer for May 19, 2026, or browse every Connections puzzle in the archive.
How hard is NYT Connections on May 19, 2026?
NYT Connections on May 19, 2026 rates 3 out of 4 on our difficulty scale — a tougher-than-average puzzle. As always you sort sixteen words into four colour-coded groups, and our hints tease what links each group without ever naming the words.
What's a spoiler-free hint for NYT Connections on May 19, 2026?
The hint ladder above starts with a one-line vibe for each of the four groups, then adds the connecting idea, then the wording of each category. You climb only as far as you need, and no grouped words are shown until the final reveal.
How many groups are in NYT Connections #1073?
Four groups of four, ordered from the gentlest to the trickiest. For the categories and the sixteen words themselves, open the answer section on this page — the hints here keep them hidden.
Today
- Difficulty
- Stiff
- At a glance
- 4 groups · 16 words
Today on Cluestand
Today
- Difficulty
- Stiff
- At a glance
- 4 groups · 16 words