Below: the Melio Connections puzzle for Tuesday, August 18, 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, August 18, 2026 below are the Melio answers, not the NYT ones.
The 16 words
WHIP
LEOPARD
SAFARI
CHROME
EGG
WHITE
JAGUAR
GREEN
EDGE
LION
BOAT
FIREFOX
CODE
JOKE
TIGER
BIRD
Hint ladder
Spoiler warning
Stage 1: letter spread
Today's 16 words are spread across the alphabet. The most common starting letters are L (2×), J (2×), C (2×), E (2×).
Stage 2: yellow theme
The yellow group's theme is "Big cats". 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: TIGER, LION, JAGUAR, LEOPARD.
TIGERLIONJAGUARLEOPARD
Stage 4: all four themes
The four categories, in order from easiest to hardest, are: Yellow (easiest): "Big cats" · Green: "Web browsers" · Blue: "Things that can be cracked" · Purple (trickiest): "___ House".
Stage 5: full solution
Below is the full grouping; each row is one category.