Today's Daily Group Grid Answer — November 12, 2026
Looking for the NYT Connections answers? This site publishes original Daily Group Grid puzzles — not NYT solutions.
Stuck on today's Daily Group Grid (Puzzle #316)? Below are gentle hints first, then the full answer for all four groups. Tap a blacked-out box to reveal it. If you only want a nudge, use the progressive hints page instead.
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.
Today's Answers
| Group | Theme | Words |
|---|---|---|
| 🟡 Yellow | Footwear | BOOT, PUMP, LOAFER, CLOG |
| 🟢 Green | Engine-trouble verbs | STALL, SPUTTER, KNOCK, MISFIRE |
| 🔵 Blue | Computer keys | TAB, SHIFT, ENTER, ESCAPE |
| 🟣 Purple | Great ___ | DANE, BARRIER, LAKES, WALL |
The purple trap: PUMP and CLOG read like engine-trouble words, but they're footwear here. The trouble group uses pure mechanical verbs (STALL, SPUTTER, KNOCK, MISFIRE).
How today's board comes apart
The opening move is Footwear (🟡 yellow). Read BOOT, PUMP, LOAFER and CLOG side by side and the category “Footwear” announces itself. Lock it in before touching anything ambiguous — a solved yellow row shrinks the search space for the three harder groups.
Next comes Engine-trouble verbs (🟢 green). The connection between STALL, SPUTTER, KNOCK and MISFIRE is still concrete, but you have to name it yourself rather than just spot it. Before committing, confirm all four genuinely fit “Engine-trouble verbs” — not only the two that jumped out first.
Blue hides Computer keys (🔵). None of TAB, SHIFT, ENTER or ESCAPE looks special alone; the giveaway is the pattern they form together. Say the candidate label “Computer keys” out loud and check each word against it before you submit.
That leaves Great ___ (🟣 purple): DANE, BARRIER, LAKES and WALL. 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: PUMP and CLOG read like engine-trouble words, but they're footwear here. The trouble group uses pure mechanical verbs (STALL, SPUTTER, KNOCK, MISFIRE). 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, browse progressive hints, see this day's permanent archive page, or the full answer archive. For the recurring category types, see our word-grouping tips and puzzle glossary.
Operator note: this page is regenerated every morning by generate_daily.py to mirror the latest date, and the playable Daily board reads the same daily.js the generator emits — so "today's answer" always matches what you played.