The NYT Connections puzzle for Wednesday, October 28, 2026, is number 1,235. Today’s board, edited by Wyna Liu, requires a mix of digital literacy, emotional intelligence, and a bit of astronomical history.
Connections Hints for October 28
If you are looking for a nudge before the full solutions are revealed, here are some progressive hints for each color group:
- Yellow: These words describe that initial spark or interest in someone else.
- Green: Think about what you see when you open your inbox to draft a new message.
- Blue: These are the names of specific high-tech machines sent to explore our neighboring red planet.
- Purple: Every word in this group sounds exactly like a synonym for a “path” or “road,” even if they are spelled differently.
Additional Clues
The Purple group is particularly tricky today because it relies on homophones. One of these, “Rout,” is a regional homophone for “Route,” depending on whether you pronounce the latter to rhyme with “out” or “root.” The Blue group consists entirely of NASA hardware currently or previously active on Mars.
Warning: The full solutions and category names for puzzle #1,235 follow below.
Connections Answers for October 28
Yellow: Romantic Liking
Attraction, Crush, Feelings, Interest
Green: Components of an Email
Attachment, Body, Signature, Subject
Blue: NASA Mars Rovers
Curiosity, Opportunity, Perseverance, Spirit
Purple: Homophones of Paths
Coarse, Rode, Rout, Weigh
Explanation of Groups
The Yellow group is straightforward, focusing on the vocabulary of early-stage romance. Green identifies the structural elements found in almost any email client.
The Blue group highlights four of NASA’s most famous Mars rovers: Spirit and Opportunity (the twin rovers that landed in 2004), Curiosity (which landed in 2012), and Perseverance (the most recent arrival in 2021).
The Purple group is the “wordplay” category. Each word sounds like a synonym for a path:
- Coarse (Course)
- Rode (Road)
- Rout (Route)
- Weigh (Way)
As noted, “Rout” (meaning a decisive defeat) only serves as a homophone for “Route” in dialects where the latter is pronounced like “shout.”
