The New York Times Connections puzzle for October 25, 2026, marks the 1,232nd entry since the game’s debut. Today’s board requires players to identify relationships between varying verbs, nouns, and proper names, ranging from culinary staples to famous fictional characters.
Hints for Today’s Connections
If you are looking for a nudge in the right direction without seeing the full solution yet, consider these thematic clues for each color-coded group:
- Yellow: These are all informal or specific terms for taking something that does not belong to you.
- Green: Focus on different varieties of a specific Italian pantry staple.
- Blue: These four words are all surnames or identifiers for famous fictional characters who share the same first name.
- Purple: This group is connected by a specific action you can perform with each item, though the context changes from sports to physics to anatomy.
Stronger Hints
To narrow it down further: the Green group is looking for shapes of pasta you might find in a box of macaroni or a pasta salad. The Blue group features characters like the adventurous Sawyer or the talented Mr. Ripley. Finally, the Purple group revolves around the word “Snap.”
Connections Answers for October 25, 2026
SPOILER WARNING: The full solution for puzzle #1,232 is listed below. Only continue reading if you want to see the final categories and their corresponding words.
Yellow: Steal
- BOOST
- PALM
- SWIPE
These terms all function as synonyms for theft or surreptitiously taking an object.
Green: Pasta Shapes
- BOW TIE
- ELBOW
- SHELL
- WAGON WHEEL
Each of these words describes a standard variety of dried pasta found in most grocery stores.
Blue: Fictional Toms
- RIPLEY
- SAWYER
- SWIFT
- THUMB
This category features surnames and descriptors for characters named Tom: Tom Ripley, Tom Sawyer, Tom Swift, and the folklore figure Tom Thumb.
Purple: Things That Can Be Snapped
- FINGERS
- FOOTBALL
- GLOW STICK
- RUBBER BAND
As noted by Lifehacker, this category utilizes multiple meanings of the word “snap.” You snap a football to begin a play, snap a glow stick to initiate a chemical reaction, snap your fingers to create a sound, and snap a rubber band by stretching it to its breaking point.
Today’s puzzle was curated by Wyna Liu, the associate puzzle editor at The New York Times. The difficulty often hinges on the Purple category’s ability to span different industries and physical actions, making the “snap” connection one of the more versatile wordplay challenges in recent weeks.
