NYT Connections #1217 answer & hints: Saturday, October 10, 2026

Updated: Saturday, October 10, 2026 · Hints reviewed by Omer Liban · New puzzle daily at midnight US Eastern Time (5am UK). · Puzzle editor: Wyna Liu.

This page has every level of help for the NYT Connections puzzle #1217 of Saturday, October 10, 2026: 3 spoiler-free hint tiers that narrow things down step by step, followed by the complete answers with explanations — each behind its own tap-to-reveal card.

Stuck on today's Connections? Work through the hint tiers below — each one gives away a little more, so you can get exactly as much help as you want and still keep the win.

New to Connections? The four answer groups are colour-coded by difficulty: 🟡 yellow is the easiest, then 🟢 green, 🔵 blue, and 🟣 purple — the trickiest, usually built on wordplay. The hints below use those colours.

Connections hints (October 10, 2026)

1One word from each group

Yellow (easiest): one of its words is “DRAFT”.
Green (easy): one of its words is “FIGURE”.
Blue (tricky): one of its words is “FEED”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): one of its words is “BEAT”.

2Category hints (no answers)

Yellow (easiest): the theme is “Useful when writing a paper”.
Green (easy): the theme is “Presume”.
Blue (tricky): the theme is “Social media sections”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): the theme is “___boxing”.

3One full group revealed

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “Useful when writing a paper”, and its four words are: DRAFT, NOTES, OUTLINE, THESIS.

Connections answers — October 10, 2026 (#1217)

★Today's full Connections answers, explained

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “Useful when writing a paper”. The words: DRAFT, NOTES, OUTLINE, THESIS.
Green (easy) — the connection is “Presume”. The words: FIGURE, GATHER, IMAGINE, SUPPOSE.
Blue (tricky) — the connection is “Social media sections”. The words: FEED, MESSAGES, NOTIFICATIONS, PROFILE.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay) — the connection is “___boxing”. The words: BEAT, KICK, SHADOW, UN.

The puzzle, explained

The purple group was all about completing the phrase "___BOXING"—BEATBOXING, KICKBOXING, SHADOWBOXING, and UNBOXING—which is a classic misdirection setup since those first three words are legit types of boxing. The real trap was KICK and BEAT, which probably felt natural in the SOCIAL MEDIA SECTIONS group alongside FEED and PROFILE, since you "kick off" posts and "beat" algorithms all the time. SHADOW was the giveaway that pulled you toward "shadowboxing" rather than anything social-media-related, though it's easy to second-guess yourself when you're staring at PROFILE and NOTIFICATIONS looking so perfectly at home together.

Next in today's routine: Wordle → · every game's answers on one page. New puzzle daily at midnight US Eastern Time (5am UK). Bookmark this page for tomorrow's hints. Or play Connections on the official site.

More of today's puzzles

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Connections — common questions

What time does NYT Connections reset?

A new Connections puzzle is released daily at midnight US Eastern Time — that's 5am in the UK (4am during US daylight-saving transitions) and 12:00am for US East Coast players.

What do the Connections colours mean?

Yellow is the easiest group, then green, then blue, and purple is the trickiest — purple usually involves wordplay such as homophones, hidden words or 'words before/after X'.

How many mistakes are allowed in Connections?

You can make four mistakes before the puzzle ends. If you see 'one away…', exactly three of your four selected words belong together.

Previous Connections puzzles

Full Connections archive (185 puzzles) → · How to play Connections (and win more) →