The New York Times Connections
The New York Times Connections

NEW YORK — The New York Times released its latest Connections puzzle at midnight local time Sunday, featuring a grid filled with furniture, fragrances and a purple category that hides weather-related words at the start of each entry.

Puzzle No. 1225 includes several words with scent-related meanings that could lure players into the wrong groups. Below are hints for each category, followed by the full solution. Readers who want to avoid spoilers should stop before the answers section.

How Connections works

Connections presents a grid of 16 words that players must sort into four groups of four based on a shared theme. Each puzzle has only one correct solution.

The groups are color-coded by difficulty: yellow is the easiest, followed by green, blue and purple, the hardest. Players can make four mistakes before the game ends.

Today's words

The 16 words on Sunday's board are: ANGEL, BUTTER, HAZEL, DEODORANT, COCO, DYNAMITE, MISTER, FOGERTY, CHEST, INCENSE, VAPORETTO, BUREAU, OBSESSION, TRUNK, OPIUM and WARDROBE.

Hints for each category

Yellow: Pieces of furniture or containers where you might keep garments.

Green: Think about the shape in which these items are commonly sold or used.

Blue: Names you might find on a department store fragrance counter.

Purple: Look closely at the beginning of each word for something that makes it hard to see.

One word from each group

  • Yellow: WARDROBE
  • Green: BUTTER
  • Blue: COCO
  • Purple: HAZEL

Watch out for these traps

The biggest trap involves scents. DEODORANT and INCENSE both relate to smell, which may tempt players to group them with the perfumes, but they belong in a different category.

CHEST and TRUNK could suggest parts of the body, while MISTER could look like a form of address. VAPORETTO, an Italian word for a water bus in Venice, may also seem out of place at first.

SPOILER WARNING: The answers are below.

Today's Connections answers

The solution to NYT Connections No. 1225 on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026, is:

Yellow — PLACES TO STORE CLOTHES: BUREAU, CHEST, TRUNK, WARDROBE

Each word names a piece of furniture or container used to store clothing.

Green — THINGS THAT COME IN STICKS: BUTTER, DEODORANT, DYNAMITE, INCENSE

Each item is commonly found in stick form.

Blue — FAMOUS PERFUMES: ANGEL, COCO, OBSESSION, OPIUM

Each word is the name of a well-known fragrance: Angel by Mugler, Coco by Chanel, Obsession by Calvin Klein and Opium by Yves Saint Laurent.

Purple — STARTING WITH THINGS THAT CLOUD THE AIR: FOGERTY, HAZEL, MISTER, VAPORETTO

Each word begins with something that makes the air hazy: FOG in FOGERTY, HAZE in HAZEL, MIST in MISTER and VAPOR in VAPORETTO.

Why this puzzle can be tricky

Sunday's puzzle relies heavily on misdirection. With several words related to smell, players may struggle to separate the perfume names from items such as deodorant and incense.

The purple category hides its connection at the start of each word, a common approach in the game's hardest group. FOGERTY, the surname of Creedence Clearwater Revival singer John Fogerty, and VAPORETTO stand out as unusual entries and may offer a clue.

Solving the yellow group first can help narrow the remaining options and make the other patterns easier to spot.

About Connections

Connections launched in 2023 and is edited by Wyna Liu. It has become one of The New York Times' most popular daily games, alongside Wordle, Strands and the Mini Crossword.

Tips for future puzzles

When several words seem to share an obvious theme, look for a more specific connection. Hidden words at the beginning or end of entries are a frequent purple theme, and words that seem out of place often belong to the hardest category.

A new Connections puzzle will be available at midnight local time.