Below: the Melio Connections puzzle for Tuesday, March 17, 2026, a progressive hint ladder so you can work toward the solution without spoiling it, and the full color-coded grouping if you want the answer outright.
Heads up: Melio’s Connections grids are independently authored. The answers for Tuesday, March 17, 2026 below are the Melio answers, not the NYT ones.
The 16 words
MAMBA
BRUTE
BARK
PURR
PYTHON
HOWL
COBRA
AIR
ROAR
RUBY
VIPER
SWIFT
TASK
BOA
RUST
STRIKE
Hint ladder
Spoiler warning
Stage 1 — letter spread
Today's 16 words are spread across the alphabet. The most common starting letters are R (3×), B (3×), P (2×), S (2×).
Stage 2 — yellow theme
The yellow group's theme is "Programming languages". That's the easiest grouping; pick the four words that fit and you're a quarter of the way through.
Stage 3 — yellow group reveal
The four yellow words are: PYTHON, RUBY, RUST, SWIFT.
PYTHONRUBYRUSTSWIFT
Stage 4 — all four themes
The four categories, in order from easiest to hardest, are: Yellow (easiest): "Programming languages" · Green: "Snakes" · Blue: "Sounds animals make" · Purple (trickiest): "___ Force".
Stage 5 — full solution
Below is the full grouping — each row is one category.