NYT Connections #1238 answer & hints: Saturday, October 31, 2026

Updated: Saturday, October 31, 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 #1238 of Saturday, October 31, 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 31, 2026)

1One word from each group

Yellow (easiest): one of its words is “GNARLY”.
Green (easy): one of its words is “DIRTY”.
Blue (tricky): one of its words is “GUITAR”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): one of its words is “DOWNFALL”.

2Category hints (no answers)

Yellow (easiest): the theme is “Words meaning good that sound bad”.
Green (easy): the theme is “Martini specifications”.
Blue (tricky): the theme is “Things with strings”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): the theme is “Starting with dog commands”.

3One full group revealed

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “Words meaning good that sound bad”, and its four words are: GNARLY, KILLER, SICK, WICKED.

Connections answers — October 31, 2026 (#1238)

★Today's full Connections answers, explained

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “Words meaning good that sound bad”. The words: GNARLY, KILLER, SICK, WICKED.
Green (easy) — the connection is “Martini specifications”. The words: DIRTY, DRY, SHAKEN, UP.
Blue (tricky) — the connection is “Things with strings”. The words: GUITAR, MARIONETTE, TASSEL, TENNIS RACKET.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay) — the connection is “Starting with dog commands”. The words: DOWNFALL, SHAKESPEARE, SITCOM, STAYCATION.

The puzzle, explained

Today's puzzle had a sneaky purple group that hinged on recognizing dog commands hidden at the start of each word: **DOWN**fall (down), **SIT**com (sit), **STAY**cation (stay), and **SHAKE**speare (shake). The real trap was that SHAKEN, which sounds like a dog command, actually belonged in the martini group—it's how Bond likes his martinis prepared. Similarly, SHAKESPEARE could've fooled you into thinking it belonged with the dog commands, but it was specifically the word itself that held the "SHAKE" command. The green martini group was particularly deceptive because DRY, DIRTY, and UP are all common adjective modifiers, so it was easy to misgroup DOWNFALL there instead of realizing those three words plus SHAKEN describe how you order a martini.

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) →