NYT Connections #1037

Hints, category titles, and full answers for Monday, April 13, 2026

🧩 April 13, 2026

Connections Hint #1037April 13, 2026

By NYT Connections HintsLast updated:

Connections Walkthrough — April 13, 2026

A breakdown of every category from the April 13, 2026 puzzle, the trap words designed to fool players, and what made it tricky.

Group-by-group breakdown (easiest to hardest)

  1. SEEN OUTSIDE A THEATER

    You can group BOX OFFICE, MARQUEE, TICKET LINE, and VELVET ROPE as entrance-area sights.

  2. ACCESSORIES FOR A MAGICIAN

    CAPE, HANDKERCHIEF, MAGIC WAND, and RABBIT all fit a classic stage conjurer setup.

  3. THEY HAVE CAPS

    BASEBALL PLAYER, CAMERA LENS, MUSHROOM, and PEN each can have a different kind of cap.

  4. TV SHOW TITLE SURNAMES

    HOUSE, LASSO, MONTANA, and SOPRANO are trickier because you need title surnames, not objects or roles.

The trap words that fool most players

Words placed in this puzzle to make one category look like another.

  • HOUSElooks like · SEEN OUTSIDE A THEATERactually · TV SHOW TITLE SURNAMES

    You might think of theater-house language, but here it names the doctor from a TV title.

  • CAPElooks like · THEY HAVE CAPSactually · ACCESSORIES FOR A MAGICIAN

    It starts with CAP, which tempts letter-pattern thinking, but it is really stage-conjurer attire.

  • SOPRANOlooks like · SEEN OUTSIDE A THEATERactually · TV SHOW TITLE SURNAMES

    An opera voice suggests performance venues, but the intended link is the TV family name.

What makes this puzzle clever

Several words pull toward show business, so you need to separate physical theater-front items from performer props and TV-title names.

About this puzzle

This is the complete solution to NYT Connections puzzle #1037, originally published on Monday, April 13, 2026. The four categories ranged from SEEN OUTSIDE A THEATER (the easiest, yellow group) through THEY HAVE CAPS (the trickiest, purple group, which usually involves wordplay or hidden patterns).

You can browse our complete Connections archive for every past puzzle since the game launched in June 2023, or jump to today's puzzle for the latest hints.