Yellow group
Most direct
First nudge
Picture a lake or a marsh on a quiet morning.
Stronger nudge
Each is a bird you might see swimming or diving, from a small duck to a diver with an eerie call.
Group name
Waterbirds
Connections hint #1191: September 14, 2026
Step-by-step hints and answers for Connections #1191, from Monday, September 14, 2026.
A gentle start to the week, and most of the board is everyday vocabulary. The catch is a surface link shared by several tiles, and the solution has no use for it. One tile is also pulled in two directions, so place it only when its partners are certain. Once three sets are in, give the remaining tiles a second, slower read, and the final group turns out to be a friendly one.
- STRAW
- CRAB
- COOT
- LEMON
- BLUE
- CANARY
- TEAL
- RAT
- LOON
- BAG
- WHEAT
- CUTLERY
- SNITCH
- GOOSE
- STIRRER
- STOOLIE
Hints for Connections #1191
Open one step at a time. Step three names the group, so stop earlier if you want more of a challenge. New to the game? Read how to play Connections first, or see what the four colors mean.
Green group
Fairly direct
First nudge
Think about crime movies and the person nobody in the gang trusts anymore.
Stronger nudge
Each is slang for a person who tells on others, including a small yellow songbird and a rodent.
Group name
Informant
Blue group
Takes some thought
First nudge
Think about what ends up in the trash after a takeout meal.
Stronger nudge
Each is a throwaway item many cities have tried to ban or limit, from something you sip through to a spoon or fork.
Group name
Common single-use plastic items
Purple group
Trickiest
First nudge
Each tile can be joined to the same short word to name a plant.
Stronger nudge
Add a word for what grows on a lawn to the end of each tile, and you get a music style, an unwanted lawn invader, an herb used in Thai cooking and a juice-bar shot.
Group name
___grass
Show the trap
Anyone who reaches for a paint chart will grab TEAL, CANARY, LEMON, WHEAT and BLUE, then argue over which one to drop. That argument has no winner, because no set on this board is about shades. Three of those five do share a group, for a reason that has nothing to do with hue, and the other two head off separately.
More ways to dodge red herrings: our Connections tips.
Word meanings
Some meanings point toward a group, so they stay hidden until you open them.
Show meanings for 5 tricky words
- COOT
- A dark waterbird with a white bill, related to rails rather than ducks. Old coot is also slang for an odd or grumpy older man.
- TEAL
- A small freshwater duck, and also the blue-green color named after markings on the bird.
- STOOLIE
- Short for stool pigeon, an old slang term for a police informer.
- LOON
- A large diving bird of northern lakes, known for its haunting call. It also appears on the Canadian one-dollar coin, nicknamed the loonie.
- CANARY
- A small songbird, often yellow, once carried into coal mines to warn of gas. In crime slang, to sing like a canary means to tell the police everything.
Answers for Connections #1191
This section shows all four groups. Only open it if you're finished or ready to give up.
Show all four groups
-
Waterbirds
COOT, GOOSE, LOON, TEAL
Waterbirds: COOT, GOOSE, LOON and TEAL.
-
Informant
CANARY, RAT, SNITCH, STOOLIE
Slang words for an informant: CANARY, RAT, SNITCH and STOOLIE.
-
Common single-use plastic items
BAG, CUTLERY, STIRRER, STRAW
Common single-use plastic items: BAG, CUTLERY, STIRRER and STRAW.
-
___grass
BLUE, CRAB, LEMON, WHEAT
Words that come before GRASS: BLUEGRASS, CRABGRASS, LEMONGRASS and WHEATGRASS.
The solve at a glance
The plastic items are the safest opening: BAG, CUTLERY, STIRRER and STRAW have no other home here. RAT, SNITCH and STOOLIE then pull CANARY away from the birds, leaving COOT, GOOSE, LOON and TEAL on the water. BLUE, CRAB, LEMON and WHEAT finish the grid, since each one turns into a plant when GRASS is added.
Want to get better at spotting groups? Start with our Connections tips.
Answers checked against the official answers by Alan. This puzzle appeared on Monday, September 14, 2026.
More Connections puzzles
Every puzzle keeps its own page with the same nudges, meanings and answers, so you can go back to any day.
Looking for a different day? Use the links below, or head to today's Connections hint. Every puzzle from September 2026 is listed on the September 2026 archive page.