NYT Connections hints and answers for Tuesday, October 20 (game #1227)

Looking for another day's NYT Connections puzzle? New puzzles debut daily at midnight in your local time zone, so some players are tackling today's game while others are still working on yesterday's. If you're after Monday's challenge, click here for hints and answers to Monday, October 19 (game #1226).

Good morning! Ready to play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that tasks you with grouping answers under different categories? It's no walk in the park, so read on if you'd like some Connections hints. Once you've finished, why not try another word game? I've also got daily Strands hints and answers, Quordle hints and answers, and a page dedicated to Marc's Wordle today.

CAUTION: Spoilers ahead! Don't read further if you'd prefer to keep today's answers under wraps. Today's NYT Connections words are CHEVRON, DOCK, BELL, PENCIL, POODLE, WRAP, MINI, MINION, WALRUS, PUPTTER, CLOSE, and HORSESHOE.

Here are some clues to help you group today's answers:

YELLOW: It's all over

GREEN: Take the fall for the crime

BLUE: Fancy facial hair

PURPLE: Sounds like characters from the House of Mouse

Now for the answers...

YELLOW: FINISH, STOP, END, CLOSE

GREEN: LACKEY, MINION, POODLE, PUPPET

BLUE: MUSTACHES, CHEVRON, HORSESHOE, PENCIL

PURPLE: HOMOPHONES OF DISNEY CHARACTERS, ARIAL, BELL, DOCK, MINI

My rating for today's Connections: Hard. My score: 3 mistakes. I was close to failure after getting LACKEY relatively easily but messing up FINISH by choosing DOCK instead of STOP. For HOMOPHONES OF DISNEY CHARACTERS, I guessed randomly and ended up with one point.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Monday, October 19, 2026, game #1226) were SEETHE, BOIL, FUME, RAVE, STEAM; ALL TALK, BLATHER, GAS, HOT AIR, WIND; MC THINGS AT MCDONALD'S, FLURRY, MUFFIN, NUGGETS, RIB; ENDING IN BIRDS, ALIBIS, BALLOON, ESCROW, MOHAWK.

What is NYT Connections? NYT Connections is one of several popular word games created by the New York Times. It challenges players to find four items that share a common theme, with each group presented in varying difficulty levels: green (easy), yellow (moderate), blue (challenging), and purple (difficult). Players get four mistakes before the game ends, allowing for a bit of breathing room.

It's a more complex challenge than Wordle but offers plenty of opportunities for traps, such as homophones and other wordplay that can mislead players. You can play Connections for free on the NYT Games website on both desktop and mobile devices.