NYT Connections Hint - February 13, 2026

Hey there, word wranglers! 🖤📣 Happy Friday the 13th—spooky date, friendly grid (well, mostly). I attacked today’s Connections with my lucky coffee mug and promptly tripped over WAYNE, convinced it had to link to Batman or maybe John Wayne casserole jokes. Thirty caffeine-sloshing minutes later, I was whispering homophones to my cat—sorry, Salem, no witch puns intended until I saw the cigarette category staring me in the lungs. Today’s puzzle gifts us flags, smokes, absolute modifiers, and… shrinking superheroes? Grab your mental pennant and let’s wave it proudly through all 16 slippery words.

Word Explanations

• WAYNE

  • Bruce Wayne, the brooding billionaire who moonlights as Gotham’s bat. I always picture him sliding down a pole—and apparently today he’s sliding down in size, because WAYNE is a homophone of ‘wane’ (to decrease). I can’t un-hear it now; every lunar eclipse is basically the moon doing a Batman impression.

• PARLIAMENT

  • First thought: British government, Big Ben, shouting across the aisle. But lowercase parl(i)ament also contains a recessed cigarette filter—clever branding by Parliament smokes, which I only learned when an older cousin used the foil as a bookmark. Political word meets tobacco word; English is weird, folks.

• STANDARD

  • The flag, the norm, the basic rental car tier you pick when the line is long. STANDARD feels sturdy—think gold standard, standard-bearer, that kid who always brought exactly two pencils to class. In vexillology it’s literally a ceremonial flag or badge, which blew my mind when I discovered my scout troop’s ‘standard’ was secretly vexillology code.

• LESSON

  • School flashbacks: chalk dust, projector hum, someone asking to ‘use the lavatory’. Phonetically, though, lesson = lessen, as in ‘to reduce’. I kept wondering why algebra ‘lessoned’ my happiness—turns out the verb was hiding in the noun the whole semester.

• KENT

  • Channel the white cliffs of Dover and you’ve got Kent, the smooth-tobacco county turned brand. My grandma kept Kent boxes for clipping coupons inside the flip-top—she never smoked, but hoarded anything with pastel stripes. Geography plus nicotine equals crossword gold.

• SYNC

  • Short for synchronize, but say it aloud—it’s a dead ringer for ‘sink’. Once I pictured a Bluetooth device slowly sinking underwater, I accepted it as a sneaky way to say ‘get smaller’. Also, boy-band choreography relies on flawless sync, which shrinks my dignity when I try it in the mirror.

• SHEER

  • Sheer fabric, sheer nonsense, sheer cliff drop—this word loves drama. It’s transparent, utter, and vertical all at once. My favorite Halloween costume involved sheer curtains repurposed as ghost wings; zero visibility, maximum spooky flutter.

• COLORS

  • COLORS conjures pride flags, team jerseys, and that kindergarten refrain ‘Red-orange-yellow-green!’ On a pennant, ‘colors’ refers to the flag itself—navy and white forever, baby. Fun fact: color fidelity is so important that vexillologists have Pantone swatches for every nation. Nerd heaven.

• STARK

  • Stark winter trees, stark contrast, Stark family (winter is coming!). The word delivers a slap—no frills, just ice-cold facts. I once described cafeteria meatloaf as ‘stark horror’ and earned applause from fellow sufferers. If you want nuance, look elsewhere; stark is the verbal equivalent of black vs. white tile.

• CAMEL

  • Two humps, zero water—Camel cigarettes ride on a dromedary logo that looks like it should carry you to an oasis but actually delivers tar. I’ve never smoked, yet I can hum their old jingle thanks to retro commercials wedged into VHS tapes. Brand nostalgia is a strange beast.

• BANNER

  • Homecoming BANNER made of bedsheets and puffy paint—my claim to fame senior year. Banners hang over highways, across Etsy shops, and in our puzzle as a synonym for pennant. They declare, celebrate, occasionally sag when it rains; I’ve seen joy drip into watercolor disasters.

• UTTER

  • Utter chaos, utter nonsense, utter amazement—it’s the amplifier you call when ‘very’ won’t cut it. One of those Old English survivors that feels gusty, like you’re throwing your whole lung capacity behind the adjective.

• RESEED

  • Gardeners reseed lawns every fall; word nerds re-seed puzzles when they’re stuck. Say it aloud and boom—you’ve got ‘recede’, meaning to pull back, like hairlines and reluctant tides. My dad annually claims he’ll reseed the bald yard spot; we joke his hairline is just practicing.

• PURE

  • PURE as driven snow, pure cane sugar, pure imagination—this word smells like fresh laundry and newborn innocence. Fun chemistry titbit: ‘pure’ substances melt at an exact point, so lab techs brag about ‘pure samples’ the way chefs brag about knife skills.

• FLAG

  • Red flag, white flag, capture-the-flag domination—flags are the emoji of international relations. As vexillology fodder, a flag can be called standard, colors, or banner; today it waves proudly in that word cluster. I once tried to memorize every flag but stalled at the tricolors—so many cousins.

• SALEM

  • Salem, the witch-trial town, and Salem, the menthol cigarette—dual legacy. I visited the Massachusetts city and bought a tiny broomstick; I did not buy the smokes, but the name still carries that crisp, eerie chill. Branding juxtaposition: witches plus minty fresh—only in America.

Theme Hints

1. DOWNRIGHT

   • Need an intensifier that feels like stamping your foot? These four all mean ‘totally, absolutely, no holds barred’—pick the one you’d shout before ‘madness!’

2. PENNANT

   • Think sports parades, summer-camp trophies, or anything triangular you wave when your team wins—these are all cloth-y declarations.

3. CIGARETTE BRANDS

   • No smoke without fire: four iconic packs you’d spot behind a diner counter—think camels, royal names, and a certain witchy city.

4. HOMOPHONES OF WAYS TO GET SMALLER

   • Listen closely: these words echo verbs that mean to shrink, retreat, or diminish—your moon does it, your hairline too.

Answers Explanation

I actually whooped when the homophones clicked—my partner came in like “did you finally beat the grid?” and I just pointed at WAYNE/RESEED like, “Look, honey, Batman’s shrinking!” 😂 Today reminded me the best categories hide in plain sight; they’re whispering the whole time, we just have to hush our over-thinking brains and listen. If you felt stumped, know you’re not alone—my coffee got cold, my streak teetered, but the joy of that last yellow square lighting up? Worth every caffeinated shiver. See you tomorrow, word nerds—may your flags fly high and your ash stay un-tapped.