NYT Connections Answers October 2026: Every Group From #1208 to #1238

The New York Times (NYT) published 31 Connections puzzles in October 2026, from #1208 on Thu., Oct. 1 to #1238 on Sat., Oct. 31, and every group is listed below from the paper’s puzzle data. Wyna Liu edited all of them. This page names each group in the table and gives the full words in the answer archive near the end, so stop before that section if you still have a puzzle to solve.

What were the Connections groups in October 2026?

The table gives each group’s title in the order of the puzzle data: yellow, green, blue, then purple.

Date	Puzzle	Yellow	Green	Blue	Purple
Thu., Oct. 1	#1208	Put	Dress Shirt Measurements	2000s Indie Rock Bands, with “The”	Starts of NYT Print Puzzles
Fri., Oct. 2	#1209	Finance	Fingers	Customary	Prime ___
Sat., Oct. 3	#1210	Starting with Terms for “Toilet”	Ending in Musicals	Starting with U.S. Museums	Ending in Fantasy Creatures
Sun., Oct. 4	#1211	Considerable Amount	Table Tennis Needs	Parts of a Judge Costume	Silent ___
Mon., Oct. 5	#1212	Calm	Adjectives for Mature Content	Kinds of Boards	Ending in Ways to Temporarily Acquire
Tue., Oct. 6	#1213	Financial Firms, for Short	Kinds of Chairs	___ Inn Hotels	Ending in Talents
Wed., Oct. 7	#1214	Save for Later	Kinds of Buns	Greek Numerical Prefixes	Best ___ Tony Awards
Thu., Oct. 8	#1215	Follows, as Rules	Outdo	Things That Come in Threes	Ending in Actors Named Tom
Fri., Oct. 9	#1216	Decisive Victory	Controlled by a TV Remote	Features of a Sports Show	Air ___
Sat., Oct. 10	#1217	Useful When Writing a Paper	Presume	Social Media Sections	___Boxing
Sun., Oct. 11	#1218	Put to Use	Monthly Bills	Things You Might Find in a Glove Compartment	Ending in Gambits
Mon., Oct. 12	#1219	Status	Tolerate	Word Shortenings, Often	Words Made Using U.S. Postal Abbreviations
Tue., Oct. 13	#1220	Discernment	Fasten	Sports Championship Prizes	Loose ___
Wed., Oct. 14	#1221	Hint	Tennis Shots	Superheroes, with “The”	Starting with “Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum”
Thu., Oct. 15	#1222	Ways to Preserve Food	Things You Can Score in Sports	Lowest Part	Low Landforms with a Letter Changed
Fri., Oct. 16	#1223	Surface Imperfections	Landlocked Countries	European Countries Minus a Letter	Starting with Words for “Stylish”
Sat., Oct. 17	#1224	Digital Notifications	Photo	Kinds of Crabs	La ___
Sun., Oct. 18	#1225	Places to Store Clothes	Things That Come in Sticks	Famous Perfumes	Starting with Things That Cloud the Air
Mon., Oct. 19	#1226	Seethe	All Talk	“Mc” Things at McDonald’s	Ending in Birds
Tue., Oct. 20	#1227	Finish	Lackey	Mustaches	Homophones of Disney Characters
Wed., Oct. 21	#1228	Classic Children’s Games	Important Person	Famous Paintings	Double Misnomers (Neither Word Is an Accurate Description)
Thu., Oct. 22	#1229	Parts to Be Grasped	Kinds of Sculptures	American Football Positions	Starts of Bedding
Fri., Oct. 23	#1230	Forthright	Things You Install on a Computer	Quantities in a Formula for Power	___ Tap
Sat., Oct. 24	#1231	Kinds of Strips	Things on Sticks	Online Ad Formats	___ Bar
Sun., Oct. 25	#1232	Steal	Pasta Shapes	Fictional Toms	Things That Can Be Snapped
Mon., Oct. 26	#1233	Responses to “How Are You?”	Kinds of Mats	American Kennel Club Dog Breed Groups	Horror Movies with Last Letter Changed
Tue., Oct. 27	#1234	Mess (With)	Parts of the Ear	___ Bell	Bell ___
Wed., Oct. 28	#1235	Romantic Liking	Components of an Email	NASA Mars Rovers	Homophones of Paths
Thu., Oct. 29	#1236	Things You Put Coins Into	Associated with Penguins	Ends of Famous Fonts	Things That Feature Three Colors
Fri., Oct. 30	#1237	Parts of a Camera	Around a Theater Stage	Throw ___	Fruit with First Letter Changed
Sat., Oct. 31	#1238	Words Meaning Good That Sound Bad	Martini Specifications	Things with Strings	Starting with Dog Commands

Source: The New York Times, Connections, puzzle data for Oct. 1 to Oct. 31, 2026. Our daily pages cover the last days of the month: Oct. 26, Oct. 27, Oct. 28, Oct. 29, Oct. 30 and Oct. 31. Earlier pages include Oct. 20, Oct. 21 and Oct. 25. For other days, see the Connections hub.

How often was the purple group wordplay?

In 28 of the 31 puzzles. We sorted each purple title by a fixed rule: a title with a blank (___) is a fill-in-the-blank group; “Homophones” in the title is a homophone group; “Letter Changed” or “Minus a Letter” is a letter change; a title beginning “Starting”, “Starts”, “Ending” or “Ends” is a hidden start or end; the rest were checked by hand.

Purple type	Puzzles	Count
Hidden start or end of the words	#1208, #1210, #1212, #1213, #1215, #1218, #1221, #1223, #1225, #1226, #1229, #1238	12
Fill in the blank (___ X or X ___)	#1209, #1211, #1214, #1216, #1217, #1220, #1224, #1230, #1231, #1234	10
Letter changed or removed	#1222, #1233, #1237	3
Homophones	#1227, #1235	2
Words built from postal abbreviations	#1219	1
Plain category, no wordplay	#1228, #1232, #1236	3

The three plain purple groups were Double Misnomers (#1228), Things That Can Be Snapped (#1232) and Things That Feature Three Colors (#1236). Hidden starts and ends were the most common single type, ahead of fill-in-the-blank by two groups.

Which group themes came up most?

We counted the titles of all 124 groups, four per puzzle, by pattern. A title can fit more than one pattern, so the rows do not add up to 124.

Title pattern	Groups
Blank (___) in the title	13 (10 purple, 3 blue)
“Things” in the title	12
Starting With or Starts Of	8
Ending In or Ends Of	8
Kinds Of	7
Parts Of	3
Homophones	2
Famous …	2

Yellow and green were plain categories almost every day. Of the 62 yellow and green groups, 60 were ordinary categories, and the other two (Starting with Terms for “Toilet” and Ending in Musicals) both came from #1210.

How many entries had more than one word, and which was longest?

Across the month, the 31 puzzles held 496 entries, of which 479 were different; 17 words appeared twice, such as Chest, Ring and Power. Of the 496, 46 had more than one word (44 with a space and two with a hyphen, Grape-Nuts and Pop-Up). Eleven puzzles had at least one.

Puzzle	Multi-word entries
#1210, Sat., Oct. 3	16
#1228, Wed., Oct. 21	12
#1236, Thu., Oct. 29	5
#1232, Sun., Oct. 25	4
#1231 and #1233	2 each
#1209, #1214, #1218, #1226 and #1238	1 each

Every one of the 16 entries in #1210 had more than one word. The longest entry overall was Campbell’s Soup Can (#1228), at 19 characters with spaces and the apostrophe. The longest single word was Orchestrations (#1214), 14 letters.

What this tells you for November

These are patterns in last month’s puzzles, not a forecast of any puzzle. They can still shape how you play.

• Check purple for wordplay first. It was wordplay in 28 of 31 puzzles.
• Look at the first and last letters. Hidden starts or ends made up 12 of the 31 purple groups.
• Test a shared blank. A fill-in-the-blank group was purple in 10 puzzles and blue in three more, 13 in all.
• Expect straight categories in yellow and green. 60 of 62 were.
• Do not split a phrase. In 11 puzzles an entry held more than one word, so a pair of words on the board can be one entry.

Track your own streak on the November 2026 printable calendar, and keep this month’s record on the October 2026 printable calendar.

Answer archive: the full words for every group

Spoiler warning: this section gives away every word of every October 2026 puzzle. Each day lists the four groups, yellow to purple, with the words in each.

Thu., Oct. 1, 2026: puzzle #1208

• Yellow, Put: Place, Position, Situate, Stick
• Green, Dress Shirt Measurements: Chest, Neck, Sleeve, Waist
• Blue, 2000s Indie Rock Bands, with “The”: Decemberists, National, Shins, Walkmen
• Purple, Starts of NYT Print Puzzles: Acro, Cross, Ken, Sud

Fri., Oct. 2, 2026: puzzle #1209

• Yellow, Finance: Back, Bankroll, Fund, Support
• Green, Fingers: Index, Little, Middle, Ring
• Blue, Customary: Common, Routine, Standard, Stock
• Purple, Prime ___: Number, Real Estate, Rib, Time

Sat., Oct. 3, 2026: puzzle #1210

• Yellow, Starting with Terms for “Toilet”: Can Opener, Head Waiter, John Denver, W.C. Fields
• Green, Ending in Musicals: Elbow Grease, Fat Cats, Linda Hamilton, Something Wicked
• Blue, Starting with U.S. Museums: Broad Bean, Getty Images, Met Halfway, Whitney Houston
• Purple, Ending in Fantasy Creatures: Diet Sprite, Merv Griffin, NY Giant, River Phoenix

Sun., Oct. 4, 2026: puzzle #1211

• Yellow, Considerable Amount: Bunch, Heap, Lot, Stack
• Green, Table Tennis Needs: Ball, Net, Paddle, Table
• Blue, Parts of a Judge Costume: Collar, Gavel, Robe, Wig
• Purple, Silent ___: Auction, Film, Partner, Treatment

Mon., Oct. 5, 2026: puzzle #1212

• Yellow, Calm: Content, Peaceful, Placid, Serene
• Green, Adjectives for Mature Content: Explicit, Graphic, Strong, Suggestive
• Blue, Kinds of Boards: Advisory, Chess, Ironing, Message
• Purple, Ending in Ways to Temporarily Acquire: Parent, Please, Sapphire, Sloan

Tue., Oct. 6, 2026: puzzle #1213

• Yellow, Financial Firms, for Short: Berkshire, Citi, Goldman, Merrill
• Green, Kinds of Chairs: Adirondack, Eames, Windsor, Wingback
• Blue, ___ Inn Hotels: Comfort, Days, Hampton, Holiday
• Purple, Ending in Talents: Catskill, Knickknack, Pianoforte, Stability

Wed., Oct. 7, 2026: puzzle #1214

• Yellow, Save for Later: Bank, Squirrel, Stash, Store
• Green, Kinds of Buns: Cinnamon, Hamburger, Hot Dog, Sticky
• Blue, Greek Numerical Prefixes: Dichotomy, Monologue, Tetracycline, Trident
• Purple, Best ___ Tony Awards: Choreography, Musical, Orchestrations, Play

Thu., Oct. 8, 2026: puzzle #1215

• Yellow, Follows, as Rules: Heeds, Minds, Regards, Respects
• Green, Outdo: Best, Eclipse, Surpass, Top
• Blue, Things That Come in Threes: Cheers, Stooges, Strikes, Wishes
• Purple, Ending in Actors Named Tom: Autocruise, Foolhardy, Mulholland, Thanks

Fri., Oct. 9, 2026: puzzle #1216

• Yellow, Decisive Victory: Blowout, Romp, Rout, Sweep
• Green, Controlled by a TV Remote: Channel, Input, Power, Volume
• Blue, Features of a Sports Show: Highlights, Recap, Scores, Stats
• Purple, Air ___: Conditioner, Guitar, Kiss, Quotes

Sat., Oct. 10, 2026: puzzle #1217

• Yellow, Useful When Writing a Paper: Draft, Notes, Outline, Thesis
• Green, Presume: Figure, Gather, Imagine, Suppose
• Blue, Social Media Sections: Feed, Messages, Notifications, Profile
• Purple, ___Boxing: Beat, Kick, Shadow, Un

Sun., Oct. 11, 2026: puzzle #1218

• Yellow, Put to Use: Apply, Utilize, Wield, plus the verb for strapping a horse to a cart (seven letters, starts with H)
• Green, Monthly Bills: Cable, Electricity, Internet, Phone
• Blue, Things You Might Find in a Glove Compartment: Gloves, Ice Scraper, Map, Registration
• Purple, Ending in Gambits: Employ, Patrick, Peruse, Syntactic

Mon., Oct. 12, 2026: puzzle #1219

• Yellow, Status: Condition, Shape, Situation, State
• Green, Tolerate: Bear, Handle, Stand, Weather
• Blue, Word Shortenings, Often: Abbreviation, Contraction, Elision, Nickname
• Purple, Words Made Using U.S. Postal Abbreviations: Alkylamide, Calamari, Mandarin, Melamine

Tue., Oct. 13, 2026: puzzle #1220

• Yellow, Discernment: Eye, Flair, Sense, Taste
• Green, Fasten: Hitch, Lash, Tether, Tie
• Blue, Sports Championship Prizes: Belt, Cup, Jacket, Ring
• Purple, Loose ___: Cannon, Change, Ends, Lips

Wed., Oct. 14, 2026: puzzle #1221

• Yellow, Hint: Flicker, Suggestion, Trace, Whiff
• Green, Tennis Shots: Serve, Slice, Smash, Volley
• Blue, Superheroes, with “The”: Flash, Hulk, Punisher, Thing
• Purple, Starting with “Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum”: Feed, Fiery, Foment, Fumble

Thu., Oct. 15, 2026: puzzle #1222

• Yellow, Ways to Preserve Food: Cure, Dry, Pickle, Smoke
• Green, Things You Can Score in Sports: Basket, Goal, Run, Touchdown
• Blue, Lowest Part: Base, Bottom, Foot, Foundation
• Purple, Low Landforms with a Letter Changed: Cannon, Forge, Racine, Volley

Fri., Oct. 16, 2026: puzzle #1223

• Yellow, Surface Imperfections: Chip, Mark, Nick, Scratch
• Green, Landlocked Countries: Chad, Hungary, Laos, Paraguay
• Blue, European Countries Minus a Letter: Bulgari, Cyrus, Hungry, Span
• Purple, Starting with Words for “Stylish”: Chicken, Coolidge, Hippo, Smarties

Sat., Oct. 17, 2026: puzzle #1224

• Yellow, Digital Notifications: Alert, Chime, Ding, Ping
• Green, Photo: Print, Shot, Snap, Still
• Blue, Kinds of Crabs: Fiddler, Hermit, King, Snow
• Purple, La ___: Bohème, Brea, Paz, Scala

Sun., Oct. 18, 2026: puzzle #1225

• Yellow, Places to Store Clothes: Bureau, Chest, Trunk, Wardrobe
• Green, Things That Come in Sticks: Butter, Deodorant, Dynamite, Incense
• Blue, Famous Perfumes: Angel, Coco, Obsession, Opium
• Purple, Starting with Things That Cloud the Air: Fogerty, Hazel, Mister, Vaporetto

Mon., Oct. 19, 2026: puzzle #1226

• Yellow, Seethe: Boil, Fume, Rave, Steam
• Green, All Talk: Blather, Gas, Hot Air, Wind
• Blue, “Mc” Things at McDonald’s: Flurry, Muffin, Nuggets, Rib
• Purple, Ending in Birds: Alibis, Balloon, Escrow, Mohawk

Tue., Oct. 20, 2026: puzzle #1227

• Yellow, Finish: Close, End, Stop, Wrap
• Green, Lackey: Minion, Poodle, Puppet, Stooge
• Blue, Mustaches: Chevron, Horseshoe, Pencil, Walrus
• Purple, Homophones of Disney Characters: Arial, Bell, Dock, Mini

Wed., Oct. 21, 2026: puzzle #1228

• Yellow, Classic Children’s Games: Duck Duck Goose, Hot Potato, Leapfrog, Musical Chairs
• Green, Important Person: Alpha Dog, Big Cheese, Heavyweight, Top Banana
• Blue, Famous Paintings: American Gothic, Campbell’s Soup Can, Sunflowers, The Scream
• Purple, Double Misnomers (Neither Word Is an Accurate Description): English Horn, Grape-Nuts, Mantis Shrimp, Sweetbread

Thu., Oct. 22, 2026: puzzle #1229

• Yellow, Parts to Be Grasped: Grip, Handle, Hilt, Knob
• Green, Kinds of Sculptures: Bust, Mobile, Relief, Statue
• Blue, American Football Positions: End, Guard, Safety, Tackle
• Purple, Starts of Bedding: Blank, Comfort, Pill, She

Fri., Oct. 23, 2026: puzzle #1230

• Yellow, Forthright: Direct, Frank, Open, Vocal
• Green, Things You Install on a Computer: Driver, Extension, Plugin, Update
• Blue, Quantities in a Formula for Power: Distance, Force, Power, Time
• Purple, ___ Tap: Double, Love, Phone, Spinal

Sat., Oct. 24, 2026: puzzle #1231

• Yellow, Kinds of Strips: Bacon, Comic, Film, Möbius
• Green, Things on Sticks: Hobby Horse, Pinwheel, Popsicle, Sparkler
• Blue, Online Ad Formats: Banner, Interstitial, Overlay, Pop-Up
• Purple, ___ Bar: Candy, Salad, Space, Sports

Sun., Oct. 25, 2026: puzzle #1232

• Yellow, Steal: Boost, Palm, Pocket, Swipe
• Green, Pasta Shapes: Bow Tie, Elbow, Shell, Wagon Wheel
• Blue, Fictional Toms: Ripley, Sawyer, Swift, Thumb
• Purple, Things That Can Be Snapped: Fingers, Football, Glow Stick, Rubber Band

Mon., Oct. 26, 2026: puzzle #1233

• Yellow, Responses to “How Are You?”: Chilling, Managing, Not Bad, Same Old
• Green, Kinds of Mats: Prayer, Welcome, Wrestling, Yoga
• Blue, American Kennel Club Dog Breed Groups: Herding, Hound, Sporting, Toy
• Purple, Horror Movies with Last Letter Changed: Halloweek, Hosted, Jawn, Psychs

Tue., Oct. 27, 2026: puzzle #1234

• Yellow, Mess (With): Fiddle, Meddle, Tinker, Trifle
• Green, Parts of the Ear: Anvil, Canal, Drum, Stirrup
• Blue, ___ Bell: Diving, Jingle, Liberty, Taco
• Purple, Bell ___: Bottoms, Jar, Pepper, Tower

Wed., Oct. 28, 2026: puzzle #1235

• Yellow, Romantic Liking: Attraction, Crush, Feelings, Interest
• Green, Components of an Email: Attachment, Body, Signature, Subject
• Blue, NASA Mars Rovers: Curiosity, Opportunity, Perseverance, Spirit
• Purple, Homophones of Paths: Coarse, Rode, Rout, Weigh

Thu., Oct. 29, 2026: puzzle #1236

• Yellow, Things You Put Coins Into: Parking Meter, Payphone, Piggy Bank, Wishing Well
• Green, Associated with Penguins: Antarctica, Emperor, Tuxedo, Waddle
• Blue, Ends of Famous Fonts: Gothic, Roman, Sans, Typewriter
• Purple, Things That Feature Three Colors: Calico, Candy Corn, Neapolitan, Traffic Light

Fri., Oct. 30, 2026: puzzle #1237

• Yellow, Parts of a Camera: Flash, Lens, Shutter, Viewfinder
• Green, Around a Theater Stage: Backdrop, Curtain, Pit, Wings
• Blue, Throw ___: Hands, Pillow, Rug, Shade
• Purple, Fruit with First Letter Changed: Demon, Drape, Glum, Grange

Sat., Oct. 31, 2026: puzzle #1238

• Yellow, Words Meaning Good That Sound Bad: Gnarly, Killer, Sick, Wicked
• Green, Martini Specifications: Dirty, Dry, Shaken, Up
• Blue, Things with Strings: Guitar, Marionette, Tassel, Tennis Racket
• Purple, Starting with Dog Commands: Downfall, Shakespeare, Sitcom, Staycation

Printable list of the October 2026 purple groups

The printable sheet lists the date, puzzle number and purple group for all 31 puzzles on one page, so you can look up a missed day without searching.