The New York Times Connections
The New York Times Connections

NEW YORK — Monday's edition of The New York Times' Connections puzzle starts the week with three groups built on familiar vocabulary and a purple group that requires players to think like a mail carrier.

Puzzle No. 1219, released for Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, asks players to sort 16 words into four hidden groups of four. Below are hints arranged from gentle to more revealing, strategy tips for avoiding today's traps and, for those who need them, the full answers.

Spoiler warning: The answers to today's Connections puzzle appear later in this article. Read only as far as you need.

How Connections works

Connections presents players with a grid of 16 words. The goal is to find four groups of four words that share a common link. Players can make up to four mistakes before the game ends.

Each group is color-coded by difficulty. Yellow is generally the most straightforward, followed by green and blue, with purple usually the trickiest and often built on wordplay.

The Times launched Connections in June 2023, and it has become one of the most popular titles in its games lineup alongside Wordle and the crossword. Much of the challenge comes from red herrings, words that appear to fit more than one category but belong to only one.

A new puzzle is released at midnight local time.

Today's 16 words

Monday's grid includes the following words:

CALAMARI, MANDARIN, STATE, ABBREVIATION, NICKNAME, HANDLE, SHAPE, WEATHER, CONDITION, CONTRACTION, SITUATION, BEAR, ALKYLAMIDE, STAND, ELISION, MELAMINE

Hints for Connections No. 1219

For players who want to keep solving on their own, here are hints for each group.

  • Yellow: Think of words describing how something or someone is doing at a given moment.
  • Green: Think of verbs meaning to put up with something difficult.
  • Blue: Think of ways to make a word or name shorter.
  • Purple: Look at the letters two at a time. Each pair is something you might write on an envelope.

More revealing hints

If you still need help, here is one word from each group:

  • Yellow: CONDITION
  • Green: WEATHER
  • Blue: ELISION
  • Purple: CALAMARI

Strategy tips for today's puzzle

Watch for double meanings. Several words in today's grid have more than one sense. HANDLE can mean to cope with something, but it can also mean an online username, which might tempt players to group it with NICKNAME. SHAPE can describe physical form or someone's condition, as in being "in good shape."

Don't be fooled by STATE. Given today's postal theme, STATE might seem like a natural fit for the purple group. It belongs elsewhere, describing a condition or status.

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Spot the oddballs. Unusual words like ALKYLAMIDE and MELAMINE are a strong signal that the purple group involves wordplay rather than meaning. When a word seems out of place, try breaking it into smaller pieces.

Start with the clearest group. The words meaning "tolerate" are fairly self-contained, which makes the green group a good starting point and reduces the number of words left to sort.

Use the shuffle button. Rearranging the grid can break up misleading clusters and help reveal new connections.

Final warning: The answers are below

If you want to keep trying, stop reading here.

Today's Connections answers

Here are the solutions for Connections No. 1219 for Monday, Oct. 12, 2026:

  • 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

Breaking down the groups

The yellow group gathers words that describe how something stands at a given time. A person or object's CONDITION, SHAPE, SITUATION or STATE all refer to its current status.

The green group collects verbs meaning to endure. To BEAR, HANDLE, STAND or WEATHER something is to tolerate or cope with it, whether it is a storm, criticism or a long wait.

The blue group lists ways to shorten words or names. An ABBREVIATION shortens a word in writing, a CONTRACTION combines words using an apostrophe, a NICKNAME shortens or replaces a name, and an ELISION drops sounds or syllables in speech to make words easier to say. ELISION may be the least familiar of the four for many players.

The purple group rewards players who split words into two-letter chunks. Each word is built entirely from U.S. Postal Service state abbreviations:

  • CALAMARI: CA (California), LA (Louisiana), MA (Massachusetts), RI (Rhode Island)
  • MANDARIN: MA (Massachusetts), ND (North Dakota), AR (Arkansas), IN (Indiana)
  • MELAMINE: ME (Maine), LA (Louisiana), MI (Michigan), NE (Nebraska)
  • ALKYLAMIDE: AL (Alabama), KY (Kentucky), LA (Louisiana), MI (Michigan), DE (Delaware)

Yesterday's answers

For players catching up, here are the groups from Sunday, Oct. 11, puzzle No. 1218:

  • Yellow — Put to use: APPLY, HARNESS, UTILIZE, WIELD
  • 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

Sunday's puzzle featured its own clever trap, as EMPLOY looked like a synonym for "use" but actually belonged in the purple group because it ends in PLOY.

Keep your streak going

Connections tends to reward patience. Players who pause before submitting a group, consider whether any word could fit elsewhere and save uncertain guesses for last often avoid costly mistakes.

Monday's puzzle is a reminder that when a grid includes unusual or technical words, the solution may lie in the letters themselves rather than their meanings.

A new Connections puzzle will be available at midnight local time, giving players another chance to test their skills on Tuesday.

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