The NYT Connections puzzle for October 15, 2026, is number 1,222. Today’s board challenges players with a mix of athletic achievements and food preparation techniques, alongside a particularly difficult purple category that relies on spelling alterations of geographic terms.
Connections Hints for October 15
If you prefer to solve the puzzle with just a few nudges, here are some broad hints for each color-coded group:
- Yellow: Techniques used to make ingredients last longer.
- Green: Different ways to earn points across various athletic competitions.
- Blue: Synonyms for the lowest point or the supporting layer of an object.
- Purple: These words are one letter away from being a specific type of low landform.
Category Clues
If the general hints aren’t quite enough, these more specific clues might help you narrow down the selections:
- Yellow Hint: Think of a deli or a smokehouse.
- Green Hint: You might see these on a scoreboard in basketball, soccer, baseball, or football.
- Blue Hint: This group describes the underside or the starting point of a structure.
- Purple Hint: Change one letter in “CANNON” to get a deep valley with a river.
For more detailed strategies on how to approach these daily challenges, you can look back at October 14, 2026 to see previous wordplay patterns.
SPOILER WARNING: The full answers and group names for Connections #1,222 follow below.
Connections Answers for October 15, #1,222
Here are the completed groups and the logic behind today’s puzzle solutions.
Yellow: Ways to preserve food
- CURE
- DRY
- PICKLE
- SMOKE
This category focuses on traditional methods used to prevent food spoilage, often involving salt, dehydration, or vinegar.
Green: Things you can score in sports
- BASKET
- GOAL
- RUN
- TOUCHDOWN
These four terms represent the primary scoring units in basketball, soccer/hockey, baseball, and American football.
Blue: Lowest part
- BASE
- BOTTOM
- FOOT
- FOUNDATION
These words are synonyms for the supporting or lowest portion of an object, building, or list.
Purple: Low landforms with a letter changed
- CANNON
- FORGE
- RACINE
- VOLLEY
The Purple group is today’s most complex category, requiring players to identify landforms where one letter has been modified to create a new word. The original landforms are Canyon (Cannon), Gorge (Forge), Ravine (Racine), and Valley (Volley).
