Wordle
Wordle

Wordle players tackling Saturday's puzzle have a five-letter word to solve for Aug. 22, 2026, marking game number 1,890 in the New York Times' daily word-guessing franchise. Below are hints for those hoping to solve the puzzle themselves, followed by the full answer for anyone ready to check their work or simply looking to keep a winning streak intact.

Wordle challenges players to guess a five-letter word within six attempts, with the game providing color-coded feedback after each guess: green tiles indicate a correct letter in the correct position, yellow tiles indicate a correct letter in the wrong position, and gray tiles indicate a letter that does not appear in the word at all. The game has remained a fixture of daily online routines since its viral rise in early 2022, prized by fans for its simplicity, its once-a-day format, and the shareable emoji grids players post to compare results without spoiling the actual answer for others.

For those seeking hints before the full reveal, here is what today's puzzle offers. Today's Wordle answer contains just one of the five vowels, meaning players should expect a word built primarily around consonants. There are no repeated letters anywhere in the word, ruling out any double-letter combinations. The word begins with the letter "P," a starting consonant that narrows the field considerably compared with more commonly used opening letters.

For players still working through the puzzle, one additional descriptive hint: today's word refers to a small shellfish with ten legs and a long tail, commonly eaten as seafood and often confused with a similar, larger crustacean that shares a similar body shape.

Spoiler warning: The full answer to today's Wordle follows below.

Today's Wordle answer for Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026, puzzle number 1,890, is PRAWN.

The word refers to a shellfish that can be eaten, characterized by ten legs and a long tail, and commonly found on menus worldwide, particularly in dishes originating from coastal and Southeast Asian cuisines. The word's single vowel, "A," combined with the relatively distinctive consonant cluster of "P," "R," "W" and "N," likely made the puzzle a moderate challenge for players who opened with guesses heavily weighted toward the game's most frequently appearing letters, such as "E," "A," "R," "O" and "T," given that several of those common letters, including "E," "O" and "T," do not appear in today's answer at all.

Yesterday's Wordle answer, for puzzle number 1,889 on Aug. 21, was TRACE. That word shares three letters, "R," "A" and "T," with today's answer, though arranged in a different configuration, offering an interesting point of overlap for players tracking recent trends in the game's letter patterns across consecutive days.

For players looking to improve their overall Wordle strategy going forward, puzzle experts commonly recommend starting with words that contain a strong mix of frequently used vowels and consonants, since doing so maximizes the amount of information gained from the very first guess, regardless of what the day's specific answer turns out to be. Commonly recommended opening words include ABOUT, ADIEU and IDEAL, each of which is frequently cited among puzzle solvers for its efficient coverage of common vowels and consonants across the English language.

Wordle has continued to draw a dedicated daily audience despite now being several years removed from its initial 2022 viral breakout, when the game rapidly spread across social media as players shared their daily results using the now-familiar green, yellow and gray emoji grid format. The New York Times acquired the game from its original creator, software engineer Josh Wardle, shortly after it first gained widespread popularity, and has continued operating it as a free daily puzzle within its broader suite of games, which also includes Connections, the Mini Crossword and other daily word and logic puzzles.

For players who missed today's puzzle or are looking to track their performance over time, Wordle resets at midnight local time each day, meaning the same puzzle and answer apply to all players regardless of time zone, though the exact moment a new puzzle becomes available will vary depending on where a given player is located relative to their own local midnight.

Players hoping to avoid spoilers for future puzzles are generally advised to be cautious when browsing daily hint and answer coverage, since many outlets, including this one, structure their coverage with hints presented first and the full answer revealed only after an explicit spoiler warning, allowing readers to stop reading at whatever point suits their own preference for either solving independently or checking their work against the confirmed daily solution.

Article 2: NYT Connections

NYT Connections Answers and Hints for August 22, 2026: Solving Puzzle Number 1,168 Without Spoilers Now

Fans of the New York Times' popular word-grouping game Connections have a fresh puzzle to work through for Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026, marking game number 1,168 in the daily franchise. Below are hints organized by difficulty level, followed by the complete answer set for anyone ready to check their work.

Connections challenges players to sort 16 words into four groups of four, with each group sharing a hidden theme or connection. The puzzle assigns a color-coded difficulty level to each category: yellow represents the most straightforward group, followed by green, then blue, with purple reserved for the trickiest and most conceptually deceptive category of the day. Players are allowed up to four incorrect guesses before the puzzle ends and the full solution is revealed automatically. The game, created by New York Times puzzle editor Wyna Liu, launched in beta in June 2023 and has since grown into the second-most-played puzzle in the Times' games lineup, trailing only Wordle itself in overall popularity.

According to Tom's Guide, which rates each day's puzzle difficulty on a five-point scale using its own Connections Companion tool, Saturday's puzzle scored a relatively low 1.3 out of 5, indicating an easier-than-average solve compared with earlier in the week.

Here are hints for each of today's four categories, presented from easiest to hardest.

The yellow group, the most straightforward of the day, centers on a set of common workshop tools used for cutting and shaping wood. One hint offered by puzzle solvers described it simply as "handy," a nod to tools used to drive nails, carve wood and smooth surfaces.

The green group focuses on a specific category of fruit, distinguished by compound names that each begin with a different descriptive word attached to the same base term. One clue offered for this category noted that "summer makes them sweeter," pointing toward warm-weather produce.

The blue group centers on settings commonly found on an adjustable garden hose nozzle, the kind used to water plants or wash a car, with each answer representing a different spray pattern. A hint circulating among puzzle solvers specifically noted, "Don't forget to water the plants."

The purple group, traditionally the most conceptually challenging category each day, links four well-known cultural references that all share a common trailing word. According to hints shared by solvers, the connection draws from entertainment and pop culture more broadly, spanning references from television, film and music. One clue pointed players toward well-known "Girls" references, comparing the category to groups like Destiny's Child or the ensemble cast of the sitcom "Living Single."

Spoiler warning: The full answer set for today's Connections puzzle follows below.

The complete answers for NYT Connections puzzle number 1,168, published Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026, are as follows:

Yellow Group — Carpentry Tools: CHISEL, HAMMER, PLANE, SAW

Green Group — Kinds of Melon: BITTER, MUSK, WATER, WINTER

Blue Group — Garden Hose Settings: CONE, JET, MIST, SHOWER

Purple Group — ___ Girls of Pop Culture: GILMORE, GOLDEN, MEAN, SPICE

The purple category proved to be the day's trickiest grouping precisely because its connecting word, "Girls," follows each answer rather than preceding it, and because two of the four words carried plausible alternative meanings that could easily mislead solvers. GOLDEN could reasonably be read as a descriptor tied to age or color, while MEAN might just as easily be interpreted as either "average" in a mathematical sense or "unkind" in a personal one, rather than immediately calling to mind the 2004 teen comedy film "Mean Girls." GILMORE and SPICE, by contrast, tended to be recognized more quickly by solvers given their strong and specific associations with the television drama "Gilmore Girls" and the pop group Spice Girls, respectively.

Several of the puzzle's other categories also included deliberate decoys designed to mislead solvers into premature groupings. The words PLANE and JET, for instance, could easily tempt players into forming an aviation-themed group together, when in fact PLANE belonged to the carpentry tools category and JET belonged to the garden hose settings group instead. Similarly, CONE might initially suggest an ice cream treat or a traffic cone to many solvers, rather than its actual role as a specific spray pattern setting found on garden hose nozzles.

For players hoping to preserve a winning streak or avoid accidentally spoiling the puzzle for themselves, Connections resets at midnight local time each day, consistent with the New York Times' broader approach to its daily puzzle offerings, meaning today's puzzle and its answers will remain the same for all players regardless of time zone, while a fresh puzzle becomes available starting at each individual player's local midnight.

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