Spoiler warning: This guide gives progressively stronger hints for NYT Connections puzzle #1,003, followed by the complete groups and answers. Stop before the answer section if you still want to solve the grid yourself.
Gentle hints
Today’s 16 words can be divided into four groups of four. Start with these broad clues:
- One group involves cooking with dry heat, such as in a convection oven or air fryer.
- One group contains familiar names or shortened forms used for family members.
- One group consists of shortened names for U.S. states.
- One group is connected by a word meaning to strike, with several related uses.
Category hints
- COOK WITH DRY HEAT
- FAMILIAL NICKNAMES
- U.S. STATE ABBREVIATIONS
- PUNCH
Complete answers for March 10, 2026
The puzzle has one intended solution, with four groups of four:
| Color | Category | Words |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow | COOK WITH DRY HEAT | BROWN, ROAST, SEAR, TOAST |
| Green | FAMILIAL NICKNAMES | CUZ, GRAM, POP, UNC |
| Blue | U.S. STATE ABBREVIATIONS | MASS, MISS, PENN, WASH |
| Purple | PUNCH | BOX, DUKE, SLUG, SOCK |
Yellow: COOK WITH DRY HEAT
BROWN, ROAST, SEAR and TOAST all describe cooking or browning food without wet heat. The clue can point toward methods associated with an oven, grill, pan or toaster.
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Green: FAMILIAL NICKNAMES
CUZ, GRAM, POP and UNC are shortened, informal ways to refer to relatives such as a cousin, grandmother, father or uncle.
Blue: U.S. STATE ABBREVIATIONS
MASS, MISS, PENN and WASH are familiar shortened forms of Massachusetts, Mississippi, Pennsylvania and Washington.
Rank #2
Purple: PUNCH
BOX, DUKE, SLUG and SOCK can all connect with “punch”: to box, duke or sock someone is to strike, while a slug can mean a hard punch.
Why the grid is easy to misread
Several entries look like names associated with U.S. colleges, including BROWN, MASS, WASH, UNC, MISS, PENN and DUKE. That visual overlap can suggest a university category, but it is a decoy rather than an intended group. In Connections, words are deliberately chosen so that plausible associations compete with the correct four-word sets. Test a proposed category against every candidate before submitting it.
How NYT Connections works
The New York Times gives players 16 words and asks them to sort them into four groups of four. The groups are marked yellow, green, blue and purple, from generally easier to trickier. Each daily puzzle has exactly one solution, although individual words may appear to fit more than one possible category.
The daily game is released at midnight in the player’s timezone. It is available through the NYT Games website and app, The Athletic and the NYT News app. The archive, which reaches back to June 12, 2023, is available to All Access and Games subscribers; access rules can change.
NYT says its editors curate the words and categories using the Oxford Dictionary. The Connections Bot can provide additional performance information, but no puzzle-specific solve-rate or difficulty figure is established here for March 10, 2026.
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