NYT Connections #1038

Hints, category titles, and full answers for Tuesday, April 14, 2026

🧩 April 14, 2026

Connections Hint #1038April 14, 2026

By NYT Connections HintsLast updated:

Connections Walkthrough — April 14, 2026

A breakdown of every category from the April 14, 2026 puzzle, the trap words designed to fool players, and what made it tricky.

Group-by-group breakdown (easiest to hardest)

  1. THINGS STORED BY A BROWSER

    You can spot the web cluster quickly: BOOKMARK, CACHE, COOKIE, and HISTORY all live in browsing contexts.

  2. BOXING TERMS

    After that, BELL, GLOVES, RING, and ROUND point clearly to what happens in a bout.

  3. TILT

    LEAN, LIST, PITCH, and TIP all describe being off vertical in slightly different ways.

  4. FREE___

    The remaining words form familiar compounds when you put FREE before them: LANCE, MASON, STYLE, and WAY.

The trap words that fool most players

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

  • LISTlooks like · THINGS STORED BY A BROWSERactually · TILT

    You might think of a saved browser list, but here it means a sideways slant.

  • STYLElooks like · BOXING TERMSactually · FREE___

    A fighter can have a style, but this answer is completed by putting FREE before it.

About this puzzle

This is the complete solution to NYT Connections puzzle #1038, originally published on Tuesday, April 14, 2026. The four categories ranged from THINGS STORED BY A BROWSER (the easiest, yellow group) through FREE___ (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.