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 Thursday, combining food, sports and geography-themed wordplay in a grid packed with words that seem to fit together in misleading ways.

Puzzle No. 1222 includes several obvious traps, including a tempting sports-related grouping. 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, which often involves wordplay. Players can make four mistakes before the game ends.

Today's words

The 16 words on Thursday's board are: SMOKE, BASKET, DRY, FOOT, VOLLEY, CANNON, RUN, PICKLE, BASE, GOAL, FORGE, FOUNDATION, CURE, RACINE, BOTTOM and TOUCHDOWN.

Words such as BASE, RUN and CURE each have more than one everyday meaning, so players should make sure all four words in a group share the same sense.

Hints for each category

Yellow: Ways to keep food edible for longer.

Green: Things athletes try to achieve to put points on the board.

Blue: The lowest part of something, or what things are built on.

Purple: Change one letter in each word to find a low-lying natural feature.

One word from each group

  • Yellow: SMOKE
  • Green: GOAL
  • Blue: BOTTOM
  • Purple: FORGE

Watch out for these traps

The biggest trap is a false "ball" category. PICKLE, BASKET, FOOT, VOLLEY and CANNON can all precede "ball," tempting players to group them together. But that category does not exist in Thursday's puzzle, and those words are spread across several groups.

BASE could also appear to fit with sports, given its use in baseball, but it belongs with the words describing the lowest part of something.

SPOILER WARNING: The answers are below.

Today's Connections answers

The solution to NYT Connections No. 1222 on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, is:

Yellow — WAYS TO PRESERVE FOOD: CURE, DRY, PICKLE, SMOKE

Each word describes a traditional method of preserving food, particularly meats and vegetables.

Green — THINGS YOU CAN SCORE IN SPORTS: BASKET, GOAL, RUN, TOUCHDOWN

Players score baskets in basketball, goals in soccer and hockey, runs in baseball and cricket, and touchdowns in football.

Blue — LOWEST PART: BASE, BOTTOM, FOOT, FOUNDATION

Each word can describe the lowest part of something, such as the foot of a hill or the foundation of a building.

Purple — LOW LANDFORMS WITH A LETTER CHANGED: CANNON, FORGE, RACINE, VOLLEY

Changing one letter in each word produces a low-lying landform: CANNON becomes CANYON, FORGE becomes GORGE, RACINE becomes RAVINE and VOLLEY becomes VALLEY.

Why this puzzle can be tricky

Thursday's puzzle uses the "ball" red herring to great effect. Many players are likely to spot PICKLEBALL, BASKETBALL, FOOTBALL, VOLLEYBALL and CANNONBALL and assume that is a category, wasting guesses.

The purple group requires players to look past meanings entirely and focus on spelling. RACINE, a city in Wisconsin, is the most unusual word on the board and may serve as the key to unlocking the category.

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 a group of five or more words seems to share an obvious connection, it is often a red herring. Solving the clearest group first can narrow the remaining options, and examining spelling, hidden words or one-letter changes can help unlock the purple category.

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