Daily Group Grid Answer — August 22, 2026
Full answer to our original Daily Group Grid puzzle for August 22, 2026 (Puzzle #234). Want the latest day instead? Head to today's answer, or just need a nudge — try the progressive hints. Tap a blacked-out box to reveal it.
Hints (no spoilers)
- Yellow: the easiest, most literal group.
- Green: a small twist on the obvious.
- Blue: trickier — think category, not surface meaning.
- Purple: the curveball; expect wordplay or a hidden pattern.
The Answers
| Group | Theme | Words |
|---|---|---|
| 🟡 Yellow | Dance styles | SALSA, TANGO, WALTZ, SWING |
| 🟢 Green | Dips / sauces | QUESO, RANCH, HUMMUS, AIOLI |
| 🔵 Blue | Playground equipment | SLIDE, SEESAW, SWINGSET, MONKEYBARS |
| 🟣 Purple | NATO phonetic alphabet | FOXTROT, ECHO, BRAVO, DELTA |
The purple trap: SALSA is a dance and a dip; TANGO a dance and NATO code; SWING a dance and a playground item. All four dances stay together; the decoy groups use their unambiguous members.
How the August 22, 2026 board comes apart
The opening move is Dance styles (🟡 yellow). Read SALSA, TANGO, WALTZ and SWING side by side and the category “Dance styles” announces itself. Lock it in before touching anything ambiguous — a solved yellow row shrinks the search space for the three harder groups.
Next comes Dips / sauces (🟢 green). The connection between QUESO, RANCH, HUMMUS and AIOLI is still concrete, but you have to name it yourself rather than just spot it. Before committing, confirm all four genuinely fit “Dips / sauces” — not only the two that jumped out first.
Blue hides Playground equipment (🔵). None of SLIDE, SEESAW, SWINGSET or MONKEYBARS looks special alone; the giveaway is the pattern they form together. Say the candidate label “Playground equipment” out loud and check each word against it before you submit.
That leaves NATO phonetic alphabet (🟣 purple): FOXTROT, ECHO, BRAVO and DELTA. As usual the final group leans on wordplay or a hidden pattern, so it is safest solved by elimination — clear the other twelve tiles and take what remains.
Why the purple group misleads: SALSA is a dance and a dip; TANGO a dance and NATO code; SWING a dance and a playground item. All four dances stay together; the decoy groups use their unambiguous members. Whenever a word seems to fit two groups, park it and finish the group that has four unambiguous members — the leftover placement resolves itself.
Want to play instead?
Play today's Daily Group Grid, see today's hints, or browse the full answer archive. New to grouping puzzles? Our word-grouping tips and puzzle glossary cover the recurring category types.
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