NYT Connections #1250 answer & hints: Thursday, November 12, 2026

Updated: Thursday, November 12, 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 #1250 of Thursday, November 12, 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 (November 12, 2026)

1One word from each group

Yellow (easiest): one of its words is “GOOD HEAVENS”.
Green (easy): one of its words is “CHANGE PURSE”.
Blue (tricky): one of its words is “ARCTIC CHAR”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): one of its words is “GLADIATOR SANDALS”.

2Category hints (no answers)

Yellow (easiest): the theme is “"gadzooks!"”.
Green (easy): the theme is “Starting with variations”.
Blue (tricky): the theme is “Ending in ways to cook things”.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay): the theme is “Starting with best picture oscar winners”.

3One full group revealed

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “"gadzooks!"”, and its four words are: GOOD HEAVENS, GREAT SCOTT, HOLY SMOKES, JIMINY CRICKET.

Connections answers — November 12, 2026 (#1250)

★Today's full Connections answers, explained

Yellow (easiest) — the connection is “"gadzooks!"”. The words: GOOD HEAVENS, GREAT SCOTT, HOLY SMOKES, JIMINY CRICKET.
Green (easy) — the connection is “Starting with variations”. The words: CHANGE PURSE, FLUX CAPACITOR, SHIFT DRESS, SWING SET.
Blue (tricky) — the connection is “Ending in ways to cook things”. The words: ARCTIC CHAR, COMEDY ROAST, DOC BROWN, YOU'RE TOAST.
Purple (trickiest, usually wordplay) — the connection is “Starting with best picture oscar winners”. The words: GLADIATOR SANDALS, MARTY MCFLY, MOONLIGHT SONATA, ROCKY ROAD.

The puzzle, explained

The purple group was sneaky because each word starts with a Best Picture winner—GLADIATOR, MARTY, MOONLIGHT, and ROCKY—but they're all disguised as normal compound words or phrases you'd never suspect. MARTY MCFLY was probably the hardest to see through since it looks like a character name (and it is!), but it's really MARTY + MCFLY. The blue group laid some traps: YOU'RE TOAST and COMEDY ROAST both have "roast" energy and could feel like they belong together, while ARCTIC CHAR and DOC BROWN might've tempted you toward the purple group since they contain actual movie/character names. The green group's SHIFT DRESS was the trickiest of the easier ones since it doesn't immediately scream "clothing item with a fashion-related first word" like CHANGE PURSE does.

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

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