Play in NYT Connections and Design Hints on August 26

• Players need to group words into four categories.
• Today's hints include boxing terms and universities.
• Available options for the game: regular and sports.

Today's NYT Connections game presents new challenges for players. Players can try to find connections between words in the game, which change every day. On August 26, there will be two different game variants available: the regular version and the sports version.

The NYT Connections game starts at local time. Players need to group 16 words into four groups of four words, finding logical connections between them. Each group has its own color, where the yellow group is usually the easiest, and the purple group is the hardest.

Today's words for the game include: TOAD, RIDE, TATTOO, BAR, MOLE, FOOT, HEEL, BADGER, RAT, HARRY, STEP, SCAR, CREEP, PIERCING, BUG, SKUNK.

Hints for the groups:

• Yellow group — physical elements that can be used to describe people.
• Green group — the largest universities.
• Blue group — a phrase that can be said when someone ignores you.
• Purple group — words that can transform "stand-up comedy" into oxymoron.

As for the sports version, it includes hints related to boxing terms and educational institutions. For example, the words for the yellow group are boxing terms, and for the green group — universities in the Mountain West. There is also a group of blue words related to Eli Manning, and the purple group pertains to Igor.

Today's answers for the sports version:

• Yellow group — boxing terms: cross, hook, jab, uppercut.
• Green group — universities: Air Force, Hawaii, UNLV, Wyoming.
• Blue group — related to Eli Manning: 10, Giants, Mississippi, Super Bowl XLII.
• Purple group — Games: Highland, Olympic, Winter, X.

For those who want to test their skills or learn more about the game, previous games are also available in the NYT Connections archive.