The New York Times Connections
The New York Times Connections

NEW YORK — Wednesday's edition of The New York Times' Connections puzzle features playground games, famous artwork and a purple group built around names that are misleading twice over.

Puzzle No. 1228, released for Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026, asks players to sort 16 words and phrases into four hidden groups of four. Some solvers rated it an easier puzzle, though the purple group requires some trivia knowledge. Below are hints arranged from gentle to more revealing, strategy tips 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 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 games in its lineup. The puzzles are edited by Wyna Liu.

A new puzzle is released at midnight local time.

Today's 16 words

Wednesday's grid includes the following words and phrases:

ENGLISH HORN, LEAPFROG, ALPHA DOG, SWEETBREAD, HOT POTATO, MANTIS SHRIMP, SUNFLOWERS, BIG CHEESE, AMERICAN GOTHIC, GRAPE-NUTS, CAMPBELL'S SOUP CAN, DUCK DUCK GOOSE, TOP BANANA, THE SCREAM, HEAVYWEIGHT, MUSICAL CHAIRS

Hints for Connections No. 1228

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

Yellow: Think of games played at birthday parties or on the playground. Green: Think of nicknames for someone powerful or influential. Blue: Think of works you might see in a famous art museum. Purple: Look closely at each name. Neither part accurately describes what it actually is.

More revealing hints

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

Yellow: LEAPFROG Green: HEAVYWEIGHT Blue: CAMPBELL'S SOUP CAN Purple: MANTIS SHRIMP

Strategy tips for today's puzzle

Watch for food and animal decoys. Today's grid contains many words that sound like food, including HOT POTATO, BIG CHEESE, TOP BANANA, GRAPE-NUTS and SWEETBREAD. It also includes several animal terms, such as ALPHA DOG, LEAPFROG, DUCK DUCK GOOSE and MANTIS SHRIMP. Neither food nor animals forms a correct group.

Think about double meanings. SUNFLOWERS could refer to plants, but here it points to a famous painting. HEAVYWEIGHT could describe a boxer, but it also describes an important person.

Use trivia knowledge for purple. The purple group requires knowing what certain items actually are. If a name seems to describe something incorrectly, it may belong there.

Start with the clearest group. Famous paintings and classic children's games are relatively straightforward and can help narrow the field.

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. 1228 for Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026:

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

Breaking down the groups

The yellow group lists games familiar to generations of children. DUCK DUCK GOOSE, HOT POTATO, LEAPFROG and MUSICAL CHAIRS are staples of playgrounds and birthday parties.

The green group gathers informal terms for a powerful or important person. Someone might be called the ALPHA DOG, the BIG CHEESE, a HEAVYWEIGHT or the TOP BANANA.

The blue group features some of the world's most recognizable paintings. "American Gothic" is Grant Wood's 1930 portrait of a stern farm couple. Andy Warhol's "Campbell's Soup Cans" became an icon of pop art. Vincent van Gogh painted a famous series of "Sunflowers," and Edvard Munch's "The Scream" is one of the most famous images in art history.

The purple group features names that are wrong on both counts:

An ENGLISH HORN is neither English nor a horn. It is a woodwind instrument in the oboe family. GRAPE-NUTS cereal contains neither grapes nor nuts. A MANTIS SHRIMP is neither a mantis nor a shrimp, but a separate type of marine crustacean. SWEETBREAD is neither sweet nor bread. The term refers to the thymus or pancreas of a young animal, often a calf or lamb, prepared as food.

Yesterday's answers

For players catching up, here are the groups from Tuesday, Oct. 20, puzzle No. 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

Keep your streak going

Connections rewards 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.

Wednesday's puzzle is a reminder that sometimes the names we use every day are not quite what they seem.

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