Below: the Melio Connections puzzle for Thursday, May 28, 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 28, 2026 below are the Melio answers, not the NYT ones.
The 16 words
COBRA
RUBY
BARK
VIPER
BRUTE
MAMBA
SWIFT
PURR
AIR
ROAR
TASK
HOWL
PYTHON
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.