The New York Times Connections
The New York Times Connections

NEW YORK — Friday's New York Times Connections puzzle mixes money, body parts and everyday vocabulary with a purple category that rewards players who think about what comes after a single word.

Puzzle No. 1209 is considered one of the easier grids in recent days, but several words can fit more than one group, setting traps for players who move too quickly.

Below are hints to help you solve the puzzle on your own, followed by the full answers.

How Connections works

Connections, created by The New York Times in 2023 and edited by Wyna Liu, gives players a grid of 16 words. The goal is to sort them into four groups of four that share a common theme.

Groups are color-coded by difficulty:

  • Yellow is the easiest.
  • Green is moderately easy.
  • Blue is harder.
  • Purple is the most difficult and often involves wordplay.

Players can make up to four mistakes before the game ends. A new puzzle is released every day at midnight local time.

Today's 16 words

Friday's grid includes:

LITTLE, REAL ESTATE, COMMON, RING, INDEX, FUND, BANKROLL, RIB, STANDARD, MIDDLE, STOCK, SUPPORT, BACK, NUMBER, ROUTINE, TIME

Category hints

If you want to solve the puzzle without spoilers, start with these clues:

Yellow: Think about putting money behind a project or person.

Green: Look at your hand.

Blue: Words that describe something normal or expected.

Purple: Each word can follow a single word that means "best" or "top quality." It also rhymes with "time."

One word from each group

Need a little more help? Here is one word from each category:

  • Yellow: BACK
  • Green: RING
  • Blue: STOCK
  • Purple: TIME

Watch for red herrings

Several words in Friday's grid could fit more than one category, which is where many players may lose a guess.

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BACK and SUPPORT can relate to physical support, while INDEX and STOCK can bring finance to mind. A player focused on money might try to group STOCK with FUND and BANKROLL, but STOCK belongs elsewhere.

RING, INDEX, MIDDLE and LITTLE are all fingers, but RIB could also suggest body parts, which can mislead players.

COMMON and STANDARD might seem like they could fit with finance terms, as in "common stock," adding another layer of confusion.

The key is to identify the purple category early, which helps separate the overlapping words.

Today's category names

Here are the four categories:

  • Yellow: Finance
  • Green: Fingers
  • Blue: Customary
  • Purple: Prime ___

Today's Connections answers

Spoiler warning: The full solutions are below.

Yellow — Finance: BACK, BANKROLL, FUND, SUPPORT

These words describe providing money for something, such as backing a startup or bankrolling a film.

Green — Fingers: INDEX, LITTLE, MIDDLE, RING

These are the names of four of the five fingers on the human hand.

Blue — Customary: COMMON, ROUTINE, STANDARD, STOCK

Each describes something usual or ordinary, as in a "stock response" or "standard practice."

Purple — Prime ___: NUMBER, REAL ESTATE, RIB, TIME

Each word can follow "prime" to form a familiar phrase: prime number, prime real estate, prime rib and prime time.

Why the purple group stands out

Purple categories in Connections often rely on words that complete a phrase, and Friday's puzzle follows that pattern. The four answers come from different areas, including mathematics, property, food and television, making the link easy to miss until players think of the shared first word.

Players who spotted REAL ESTATE early had an advantage, since few other words in the grid naturally pair with it.

Strategy tips

To improve your Connections results:

  • Look for the most unusual words first. Unusual entries such as REAL ESTATE or BANKROLL often point to a specific category.
  • Consider phrases. Purple groups often involve words that complete a phrase.
  • Watch for overlap. If more than four words seem to fit a category, one of them likely belongs to another group.
  • Use the shuffle button to see the words in a new arrangement.
  • Don't rush. With only four mistakes allowed, it can pay to think through every group before submitting.

Yesterday's answers

For players catching up, Thursday's puzzle (No. 1208) had these categories:

  • Yellow — Put: PLACE, POSITION, SITUATE, STICK
  • Green — Dress shirt measurements: CHEST, NECK, SLEEVE, WAIST
  • Blue — 2000s indie rock bands, with "The": DECEMBERISTS, NATIONAL, SHINS, WALKMEN
  • Purple — Starts of NYT print puzzles: ACRO, CROSS, KEN, SUD

A new Connections puzzle will be released at midnight local time Saturday, Oct. 3. Check back for hints and answers to help protect your winning streak.

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