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 Monday, featuring words for anger, empty talk, fast food favorites and a purple category with birds hiding in plain sight.

Puzzle No. 1226 includes several words with overlapping meanings that could tempt 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 Monday's board are: MOHAWK, MUFFIN, HOT AIR, BALLOON, RAVE, WIND, FLURRY, STEAM, GAS, RIB, FUME, ALIBIS, BOIL, BLATHER, ESCROW and NUGGETS.

Words such as BOIL, GAS and RIB each have more than one everyday meaning, so players should test each possibility before committing.

Hints for each category

Yellow: Ways to describe being really angry.

Green: Words for talk that has little substance.

Blue: Menu items at a famous fast food chain, each with a two-letter prefix.

Purple: Look at the end of each word for something with feathers.

One word from each group

  • Yellow: FUME
  • Green: BLATHER
  • Blue: MUFFIN
  • Purple: ESCROW

Watch out for these traps

The biggest trap involves words related to air and heat. STEAM, GAS, WIND and HOT AIR could all seem to belong together, but they are split between the anger and empty-talk categories.

HOT AIR and BALLOON may also look like a natural pair, but BALLOON belongs in the purple group. RAVE could suggest a party, but here it means to speak angrily.

SPOILER WARNING: The answers are below.

Today's Connections answers

The solution to NYT Connections No. 1226 on Monday, Oct. 19, 2026, is:

Yellow — SEETHE: BOIL, FUME, RAVE, STEAM

Each word can describe being intensely angry, as in "boiling with rage" or "fuming."

Green — ALL TALK: BLATHER, GAS, HOT AIR, WIND

Each word describes empty or meaningless talk.

Blue — "MC" THINGS AT MCDONALD'S: FLURRY, MUFFIN, NUGGETS, RIB

Adding "Mc" to each word creates a McDonald's menu item: McFlurry, McMuffin, McNuggets and McRib.

Purple — ENDING IN BIRDS: ALIBIS, BALLOON, ESCROW, MOHAWK

Each word ends with the name of a bird: IBIS in ALIBIS, LOON in BALLOON, CROW in ESCROW and HAWK in MOHAWK.

Why this puzzle can be tricky

Monday's puzzle relies on overlapping themes. Several words connected to heat and air could fit either the anger group or the empty-talk group, requiring careful sorting.

The purple category hides its connection at the end of each word, a common approach in the game's hardest group. Words such as ALIBIS and ESCROW, which seem unrelated to the other themes, may offer the first clue.

Solving the McDonald's group early can help, since it removes four words and leaves the remaining categories easier to separate.

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.