Daily Group Grid Answer — August 31, 2026
Full answer to our original Daily Group Grid puzzle for August 31, 2026 (Puzzle #243). 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 | Shades of blue | NAVY, COBALT, AZURE, CYAN |
| 🟢 Green | Cheeses | BRIE, GOUDA, FETA, EDAM |
| 🔵 Blue | US rivers | HUDSON, COLORADO, POTOMAC, SNAKE |
| 🟣 Purple | Reptiles | GECKO, IGUANA, SKINK, VIPER |
The purple trap: SNAKE tempts toward reptiles but it's the Snake River; NAVY reads military but it's a blue.
How the August 31, 2026 board comes apart
Start with Shades of blue (🟡 yellow). NAVY, COBALT, AZURE and CYAN share the most literal link on the board — each one is a plain, dictionary-level example of “Shades of blue”. Bank the safest group first: clearing four tiles early leaves every later decoy fewer places to hide.
Green is Cheeses (🟢). BRIE and GOUDA usually surface first; the test is whether FETA and EDAM belong to “Cheeses” just as cleanly. If one of the four feels forced, that word probably serves another group and you are one tile off.
The blue group, US rivers, tends to need a second pass. HUDSON, COLORADO, POTOMAC and SNAKE only click once you stop reading each word at surface level and ask what single category could hold all four at once — here, that shared frame is “US rivers”.
Purple is Reptiles: GECKO, IGUANA, SKINK and VIPER. Do not hunt for it directly — the “Reptiles” link is built to stay invisible until the easier groups are gone. Solve around it and let the last four tiles confirm themselves.
Why the purple group misleads: SNAKE tempts toward reptiles but it's the Snake River; NAVY reads military but it's a blue. 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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