Below: the Melio Connections puzzle for Thursday, May 14, 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 Thursday, May 14, 2026 below are the Melio answers, not the NYT ones.
The 16 words
NAAN
NATIONAL
COMMA
AUSTRALIA
BAGEL
DASH
ASIA
SOUTH
RYE
AFRICA
PERIOD
JURASSIC
CENTRAL
PITA
COLON
EUROPE
Hint ladder
Spoiler warning
Stage 1: letter spread
Today's 16 words are spread across the alphabet. The most common starting letters are A (3×), C (3×), N (2×), P (2×).
Stage 2: yellow theme
The yellow group's theme is "Types of bread". 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: RYE, NAAN, PITA, BAGEL.
RYENAANPITABAGEL
Stage 4: all four themes
The four categories, in order from easiest to hardest, are: Yellow (easiest): "Types of bread" · Green: "Continents" · Blue: "Punctuation" · Purple (trickiest): "___ Park".
Stage 5: full solution
Below is the full grouping; each row is one category.