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 Wednesday, mixing sports terminology and comic book heroes with a purple category rooted in a classic fairy tale.

Puzzle No. 1221 includes several words with more than one meaning, which can lead players into incorrect groupings. 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 gives players a grid of 16 words to 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, which is usually the hardest and often depends on wordplay. Players can make four mistakes before the game ends.

Today's words

The 16 words on Wednesday's board are: FEED, THING, SERVE, SUGGESTION, FIERY, FLICKER, FLASH, FOMENT, SMASH, HULK, TRACE, FUMBLE, SLICE, WHIFF, VOLLEY and PUNISHER.

Words such as FLICKER, SERVE and FLASH each have more than one meaning, so players should check that all four words in a group share the same connection before submitting.

Hints for each category

Yellow: Think of something faint or indirect, a small sign that something is present.

Green: Picture a competitive setting at Wimbledon, where technique matters.

Blue: Comic book champions whose names are usually preceded by the same short word.

Purple: Look at the beginning of each word. Think of what a giant says at the start of a famous children's story.

One word from each group

  • Yellow: TRACE
  • Green: VOLLEY
  • Blue: HULK
  • Purple: FUMBLE

Watch out for these traps

FLASH could appear to fit with FLICKER as a brief burst of light, but it belongs with the comic book heroes. SMASH might seem like a superhero action, but it is a tennis shot. Several words beginning with F could tempt players to build a group based only on the first letter, but only four match the specific purple pattern.

SPOILER WARNING: The answers are below.

Today's Connections answers

The solution to NYT Connections No. 1221 on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026, is:

Yellow — HINT: FLICKER, SUGGESTION, TRACE, WHIFF

Each word can describe a small sign or slight amount of something, as in "a flicker of hope" or "a whiff of scandal."

Green — TENNIS SHOTS: SERVE, SLICE, SMASH, VOLLEY

These are all ways to hit the ball in tennis. A serve starts each point, a slice adds backspin, a smash is a powerful overhead shot and a volley is struck before the ball bounces.

Blue — SUPERHEROES, WITH "THE": FLASH, HULK, PUNISHER, THING

Each is a comic book character commonly known with "the" in front of the name: The Flash, The Hulk, The Punisher and The Thing.

Purple — STARTING WITH "FEE, FI, FO, FUM": FEED, FIERY, FOMENT, FUMBLE

Each word begins with one of the syllables from the giant's famous chant in "Jack and the Beanstalk": FEE-d, FI-ery, FO-ment and FUM-ble.

Why this puzzle can be tricky

Wednesday's puzzle tests whether players focus on meaning or spelling. The yellow, green and blue groups depend on what the words mean, while the purple group requires players to ignore meaning entirely and look at the letters.

The abundance of words beginning with F, including FLICKER, FLASH, FIERY, FEED, FOMENT and FUMBLE, can make the purple category harder to isolate, since only four follow the specific "fee, fi, fo, fum" pattern.

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. Like Wordle, it resets at midnight local time.

Tips for future puzzles

Players often find success by solving the group they are most confident about first, even if it is not yellow. When five or more words seem to fit a single theme, at least one likely belongs elsewhere. And when meanings fail to reveal a connection, examining spelling, hidden words or the beginnings and endings of words can often unlock the purple category.

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