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NYT Connections #1075 Debuts Four Themes, Perfect Score Recorded

5/22/2026

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Summary

NYT Releases Puzzle

The New York Times released Connections puzzle #1075 on May 21, 2026.
It contained four answer groups—kinds of pies (chess, pecan, pumpkin, shoofly), butt-related items (caboose, can, moon, peach), tennis scores (advantage, deuce, forty, love), and “____ mustard” (colonel, honey, hot, yellow).
The Hard-rated game recorded a perfect score by a player.

Summary

Athletic Launches Puzzle

The Sports Edition of Connections is available exclusively in The Athletic’s app, not in the New York Times Games app.
The Athletic, a subscription-based sports journalism platform, is owned by The New York Times.
The puzzle provides colored group hints—yellow “Seen at a college sporting event,” green “Pitching mound,” blue “Alpine skiing disciplines,” and purple “Charlotte ____”—to guide solvers through ambiguous word choices.

Summary

Players Check Hints

The puzzle ends after four wrong guesses, so players check hints before final attempt.
Solving a category removes its words, making remaining groups easier to identify.
Red-herring entries seem to match a theme but belong elsewhere.
Difficulty does not rise; it fluctuates with the knowledge required for each set.
Color-coded hints give starter words such as “CHESS” for pies, and checking them with one guess left can avoid a game-over.

Summary

Connections Issues Warning

The article opens with a spoiler warning urging readers not to view it before solving the May 21, 2026 Connections puzzle.
It notes that players share the game’s colored squares on social media, similar to Wordle.
The piece describes Connections as a “super fun word game” that can also be “very challenging.”
Clues such as “Think backsides” and “Think a certain sport” guide solvers to a link that leads to more puzzles.

History

Historical Context

After Arthur Hays Sulzberger added a Sunday crossword on Feb 15 1942 to distract wartime readers, the Times expanded to a daily puzzle in 1950 and later built NYT Games, which logged over 10 million daily players by 2024. The 2022 purchase of Wordle and the 2023 launch of Connections set the stage for Connections #1075 on The Athletic’s app in 2026, echoing the viral Wordle craze.

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NYT Releases Puzzle

The New York Times released Connections puzzle #1075 on May 21, 2026.
It contained four answer groups—kinds of pies (chess, pecan, pumpkin, shoofly), butt-related items (caboose, can, moon, peach), tennis scores (advantage, deuce, forty, love), and “____ mustard” (colonel, honey, hot, yellow).
The Hard-rated game recorded a perfect score by a player.

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