NYT Connections #1231 answer & hints: Saturday, October 24, 2026

Updated: Saturday, October 24, 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 #1231 of Saturday, October 24, 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 24, 2026)

1One word from each group

Yellow (easiest): one of its words is “BACON”.
Green (easy): one of its words is “HOBBY HORSE”.
Blue (tricky): one of its words is “BANNER”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): one of its words is “CANDY”.

2Category hints (no answers)

Yellow (easiest): the theme is “Kinds of strips”.
Green (easy): the theme is “Things on sticks”.
Blue (tricky): the theme is “Online ad formats”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): the theme is “___ bar”.

3One full group revealed

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “Kinds of strips”, and its four words are: BACON, COMIC, FILM, MÖBIUS.

Connections answers — October 24, 2026 (#1231)

★Today's full Connections answers, explained

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “Kinds of strips”. The words: BACON, COMIC, FILM, MÖBIUS.
Green (easy) — the connection is “Things on sticks”. The words: HOBBY HORSE, PINWHEEL, POPSICLE, SPARKLER.
Blue (tricky) — the connection is “Online ad formats”. The words: BANNER, INTERSTITIAL, OVERLAY, POP-UP.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay) — the connection is “___ bar”. The words: CANDY, SALAD, SPACE, SPORTS.

The puzzle, explained

The purple group's genius was that all four words can precede "BAR" to make common phrases—CANDY BAR, SALAD BAR, SPACE BAR, SPORTS BAR—but they're hiding in plain sight among actual category words. BANNER and POP-UP were absolutely brutal misdirection since they're legitimate online ad formats, which made it tempting to assume OVERLAY belonged in that group instead of the "BAR" category. The real trap was that OVERLAY is *also* a type of ad format, so it felt like the missing piece that would make the blue group work perfectly. Once you realized SPACE BAR specifically meant the keyboard key (not an actual bar where they serve space-themed drinks), the whole purple group clicked into place.

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.

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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) →