Connections #1250 Hints & Answers Today, November 12, 2026

The New York Times puts out Connections #1250 for Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, edited by Wyna Liu. All 16 tiles are two-word phrases, and our Connections hub explains how many wrong guesses you get before the game ends. Hints come first, two per color; the solution sits below a spoiler line.

Today’s 16 words

Great Scott, Rocky Road, You’re Toast, Flux Capacitor, Moonlight Sonata, Jiminy Cricket, Marty McFly, Comedy Roast, Doc Brown, Change Purse, Arctic Char, Good Heavens, Shift Dress, Gladiator Sandals, Holy Smokes, Swing Set

Hints for each group

Yellow

• Hint 1

  Each is an old-fashioned way to say wow when something startles you.
• Hint 2

  One borrows the name of the cricket in Disney’s Pinocchio; one calls on the sky above.
• Reveal the yellow group

  "Gadzooks!": Good Heavens, Great Scott, Holy Smokes, Jiminy Cricket

Green

• Hint 1

  Look at the first word of each one: it is another word for an alteration.
• Hint 2

  One is a coin pouch; one is a backyard frame with seats that move back and forth.
• Reveal the green group

  Starting with Variations: Change Purse, Flux Capacitor, Shift Dress, Swing Set

Blue

• Hint 1

  The last word of each one is something a cook can do to food with heat.
• Hint 2

  One is a cold-water fish; one is a time-travel scientist from the movies.
• Reveal the blue group

  Ending in Ways to Cook Things: Arctic Char, Comedy Roast, Doc Brown, You're Toast

Purple

• Hint 1

  The first word of each one is the title of a film that took the top prize at the Academy Awards.
• Hint 2

  One starts with the winning film from 2016; one starts with the winning boxing film from 1976.
• Reveal the purple group

  Starting with Best Picture Oscar Winners: Gladiator Sandals, Marty Mcfly, Moonlight Sonata, Rocky Road

Solving tips

Show the solving tips

Split every tile into its two halves before you guess. A tile that looks like a film character may count for its first word, its last word, or the phrase as a whole.

Four tiles come from Back to the Future, the 1985 time-travel film, and no group is about it. Treat that as noise and test each half on its own.

If you keep a streak, the November 2026 printable calendar has a box for every day, and the printable weekly calendar leaves room for notes.

Thursday’s other games: Wordle hints, Strands hints and Pips hints.

Today’s Connections answers (spoilers)

Spoilers start right below this line.

• Yellow, “Gadzooks!”

  Good Heavens, Great Scott, Holy Smokes, Jiminy Cricket
• Green, Starting With Variations

  Change Purse, Flux Capacitor, Shift Dress, Swing Set
• Blue, Ending in Ways to Cook Things

  Arctic Char, Comedy Roast, Doc Brown, You’re Toast
• Purple, Starting With Best Picture Oscar Winners

  Gladiator Sandals, Marty McFly, Moonlight Sonata, Rocky Road

1. “Gadzooks!”Good Heavens, Great Scott, Holy Smokes, Jiminy Cricket
2. Starting With VariationsChange Purse, Flux Capacitor, Shift Dress, Swing Set
3. Ending in Ways to Cook ThingsArctic Char, Comedy Roast, Doc Brown, You’re Toast
4. Starting With Best Picture Oscar WinnersGladiator Sandals, Marty McFly, Moonlight Sonata, Rocky Road

Why the traps worked

Great Scott, Flux Capacitor, Doc Brown and Marty McFly all come from Back to the Future, and the board hands one to each color. Great Scott is a cry Doc Brown uses often, Flux names a kind of change, Brown is a way to cook, and Marty won Best Picture for 1955.

Rocky Road, an ice cream flavor, can pull you toward the kitchen group with Arctic Char and You’re Toast. Jiminy Cricket also opens with a name, like Marty McFly, yet as a whole phrase it is an exclamation.

Decoy map

Entry	Real group	Look-alike group	Why it tempts
Rocky Road	Starting With Best Picture Oscar Winners	Ending in Ways to Cook Things	It is a food, like the kitchen tiles.
Doc Brown	Ending in Ways to Cook Things	Starting With Best Picture Oscar Winners	It names a film character, like Marty McFly.
Jiminy Cricket	“Gadzooks!”	Starting With Best Picture Oscar Winners	Its first word is a name, like Marty.
Great Scott	“Gadzooks!”	Ending in Ways to Cook Things	Scott is a surname, like Brown in Doc Brown.

We matched each group to the puzzle’s official data before posting. Friday brings #1251.

Yesterday's Connections answer

The four groups in Connections on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026, easiest to hardest:

• Yellow, Kinds of Medicine: Folk, Herbal, Holistic, Traditional
• Green, Parts of a Golf Course: Green, Rough, Sand Trap, Tee Box
• Blue, Things Filled with Air: Air Mattress, Bubble, Tire, Whoopie Cushion
• Purple, Ending in Palindromes: Afternoon, Patoot, Rheostats, Shredder

Yesterday's hints and full solution.