NYT Connections · September 16, 2026
Why Does CLINK Count as a Sausage in NYT Connections?
In the September 16, 2026 NYT Connections puzzle, CLINK belongs in “SAUSAGES PLUS A LETTER” because removing C gives LINK. A sausage link is one individual section of linked sausage. LINK therefore counts even though it is not a sausage variety name like bratwurst or wiener. The full transformation is: BORAT — remove O — BRAT — bratwurst CLINK — remove C — LINK — sausage link WIDENER — remove D — WIENER — sausage FRANK-N-FURTER — remove the extra middle N — FRANKFURTER — sausage
Why now
CLINK → LINK was the least obvious semantic step in the SAUSAGES PLUS A LETTER group.
More context
Context
Why is LINK a sausage?
LINK is the least obvious result because it sounds like a general word, not a food name.
In food usage, a sausage link is one individual section of sausage in a linked chain. That is the sense Connections is using.
Why does BORAT become BRAT?
Remove the O from BORAT and the remaining letters spell BRAT.
In American informal usage, brat can be short for bratwurst. The puzzle is using that food meaning, not the unrelated meaning of an annoying child.
Where can the extra letter appear?
There is no single fixed position.
CLINK has an extra C at the beginning. BORAT has an extra O inside the word. WIDENER has an extra D inside the word. FRANK-N-FURTER has an extra N between the two parts of the character name.
The group rule is “sausage plus one letter,” not “remove the first letter” or “remove the same position every time.”
Why is WIDENER tricky?
Remove D from WIDENER and the remaining letters spell WIENER. The spelling matters. The result is WIENER, not WEINER.
Why does FRANK-N-FURTER work?
Ignoring punctuation, the character name contains one extra N compared with FRANKFURTER.
Remove that extra middle N and the food word appears.
FRANK-N-FURTER is also part of another very convincing trap in this puzzle: four Tim Curry roles appear on the board but do not form an official group.
Keep exploring
Related
Evidence
Sources
- Connections September 16, 2026 — The New York Times
Official puzzle groups and the four sausage-plus-a-letter entries.
- link — Merriam-Webster
A link can mean one section of sausage in a chain.
- brat — Merriam-Webster
Brat can be short for bratwurst.