Yellow group
Most direct
First nudge
Think about what a teacher or mentor does.
Stronger nudge
Each word means to show someone how to do something, whether on a sports team, at a gym or on a tour.
Group name
Instruct
Connections hint #1192: September 15, 2026
Step-by-step hints and answers for Connections #1192, from Tuesday, September 15, 2026.
Tuesday brings a tidy grid with very few unfamiliar words, which means the difficulty comes from overlap rather than vocabulary. A cluster of tiles points one way so firmly that it is easy to commit before checking the rest of the board. The purple set is the friendliest kind of tricky, and it may well be the second group you find rather than the last.
- PLANT
- COACH
- WHISTLE
- DESSERT
- HANDLE
- CABOOSE
- DECEMBER
- SLEEPER
- DIRECT
- TRAIN
- LID
- ASSET
- SPOUT
- MOLE
- EPILOGUE
- GUIDE
Hints for Connections #1192
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
Picture a stovetop on a cold morning when the water is almost ready.
Stronger nudge
Each is a piece of the pot that announces boiling water, from the bit you hold to the cover on top.
Group name
Parts of a whistling kettle
Blue group
Takes some thought
First nudge
Think about spy novels and Cold War thrillers.
Stronger nudge
Each is a word for a secret agent hidden inside an organization, including a burrowing animal and something that grows in soil.
Group name
Undercover operative
Purple group
Trickiest
First nudge
Ask where each of these usually shows up in a sequence.
Stronger nudge
Each comes last in its own setting: on a line of rail cars, in the calendar, at a meal and in a book.
Group name
Things that appear at the end
Show the trap
Rail fans have an early favorite on this board. COACH, SLEEPER and CABOOSE are all kinds of railroad car, and TRAIN sits right beside them as if to complete the set. That neat little station never opens. Each of those four belongs somewhere else, so set the railroad reading aside and ask what each word means off the tracks.
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
- CABOOSE
- The last car on a freight train, where the crew once rode. Most North American railroads stopped using them in the 1980s.
- EPILOGUE
- A section at the end of a book or play that wraps up the story, often set some time after the main events.
- ASSET
- Anything of value. In spy language, a person who secretly passes information to an intelligence service.
- SLEEPER
- Someone who is asleep, a railroad car with beds, or a spy who lives an ordinary life for years before being activated.
- MOLE
- A small burrowing animal, a dark spot on the skin, or a spy who works inside an organization while secretly reporting to a rival.
Answers for Connections #1192
This section shows all four groups. Only open it if you're finished or ready to give up.
Show all four groups
-
Instruct
COACH, DIRECT, GUIDE, TRAIN
Words meaning to instruct: COACH, DIRECT, GUIDE and TRAIN.
-
Parts of a whistling kettle
HANDLE, LID, SPOUT, WHISTLE
Parts of a whistling kettle: HANDLE, LID, SPOUT and WHISTLE.
-
Undercover operative
ASSET, MOLE, PLANT, SLEEPER
Words for an undercover operative: ASSET, MOLE, PLANT and SLEEPER. A sleeper agent can live quietly for years before being called on.
-
Things that appear at the end
CABOOSE, DECEMBER, DESSERT, EPILOGUE
Things that come at the end: a CABOOSE ends a freight train, DECEMBER ends the year, DESSERT ends a meal and an EPILOGUE ends a book.
The solve at a glance
The kettle is the cleanest start, since HANDLE, LID, SPOUT and WHISTLE share no other idea. The rail cars then split up: COACH and TRAIN teach alongside DIRECT and GUIDE, while SLEEPER joins ASSET, MOLE and PLANT as spies. CABOOSE ends up with DECEMBER, DESSERT and EPILOGUE, four things that close out a sequence.
Want to get better at spotting groups? Start with our Connections tips.
Answers checked against the official answers by Alan. This puzzle appeared on Tuesday, September 15, 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.