Connections #1253 Hints & Answers Today, November 15, 2026

Connections #1253 is the New York Times puzzle for Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026, edited by Wyna Liu. One tile is Répondez S’il Vous Plaît (RSVP), the only abbreviation on today’s board, and our Connections guide explains the rules. Two hints per color come first; the solved groups follow in a marked section.

Today’s 16 words

Jet, Travel, Sleek, Record, Registry, Archive, Inclined, Dress Code, Rapscallion, All-Time, RSVP, Cartesian, Historic, Astral, Octonion, Unprecedented

Hints for each group

Yellow

• Hint 1

  Each describes a feat nobody has ever topped.
• Hint 2

  One is also a vinyl disc; one is hyphenated and means of every era.
• Reveal the yellow group

  Unmatched: All-Time, Historic, Record, Unprecedented

Green

• Hint 1

  Each is a page on the site a couple builds before their wedding day.
• Hint 2

  One lists the gifts they hope to receive; one tells guests what to wear.
• Reveal the green group

  Wedding Website Sections: Dress Code, Registry, Rsvp, Travel

Blue

• Hint 1

  Each can come before a word for a flat surface, or for an aircraft.
• Hint 2

  One is a grid of x and y axes named after a French thinker; one is the sloped ramp from physics class.
• Reveal the blue group

  ___ Plane: Astral, Cartesian, Inclined, Jet

Purple

• Hint 1

  The end of each one hides a vegetable related to garlic.
• Hint 2

  One ends in a green herb snipped over baked potatoes; one is a playful word for a rascal.
• Reveal the purple group

  Ending in Vegetables in the Allium Family: Archive, Octonion, Rapscallion, Sleek

Solving tips

Show the solving tips

Clear the wedding pages first; a couple’s website has only so many sections, and four tiles fit that list.

Three tiles sound like keeping records, and they do not belong together. For the trickiest group, read the last few letters of each leftover tile and think about the kitchen.

Close out the week on the printable weekly calendar, or keep counting on the November 2026 printable calendar.

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

Today’s Connections answers (spoilers)

The solved groups are just below.

• Yellow, Unmatched

  All-Time, Historic, Record, Unprecedented
• Green, Wedding Website Sections

  Dress Code, Registry, RSVP, Travel
• Blue, ___ Plane

  Astral, Cartesian, Inclined, Jet
• Purple, Ending in Vegetables in the Allium Family

  Archive, Octonion, Rapscallion, Sleek

1. UnmatchedAll-Time, Historic, Record, Unprecedented
2. Wedding Website SectionsDress Code, Registry, RSVP, Travel
3. ___ PlaneAstral, Cartesian, Inclined, Jet
4. Ending in Vegetables in the Allium FamilyArchive, Octonion, Rapscallion, Sleek

Why the traps worked

Record, Registry and Archive all sound like the work of a clerk keeping files. Record means a best-ever mark here, Registry is the gift list, and Archive hides chive.

Jet and Travel make another pair, since both point to a trip. Jet goes before plane, and Travel is the wedding page for guests coming from out of town. Historic leans toward Archive as a word about the past, but today it means record-setting.

Decoy map

Entry	Real group	Look-alike group	Why it tempts
Record	Unmatched	Ending in Vegetables in the Allium Family	It reads like Archive, a word for stored files.
Registry	Wedding Website Sections	Unmatched	A registry is an official record, like Record.
Archive	Ending in Vegetables in the Allium Family	Unmatched	It sounds like Historic, a word about the past.
Jet	___ Plane	Wedding Website Sections	Travel, a wedding page, is about trips like a jet ride.
Travel	Wedding Website Sections	___ Plane	Most long trips start on a jet.

Each group was checked against the official puzzle data before posting. Monday’s grid is #1254.

Yesterday's Connections answer

The four groups in Connections on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026, easiest to hardest:

• Yellow, Cutting-Edge: Advanced, Foremost, Modern, Progressive
• Green, Locations for an Institution: Campus, Center, Complex, Facility
• Blue, Strategy Board Games: Chess, Go, Othello, Stratego
• Purple, Baby Gear with First Letter Changed: Battle, Marriage, Mottle, Trib

Yesterday's hints and full solution.