Here are today’s Connections hints and answers for NYT Connections No. 1,220 on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026. For once, the purple category wasn’t too tough. We’ll give you a hint for each color group first, then reveal today’s Connections answers further down.

Today’s Connections hints

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Perception.

Green group hint: Hook it up.

Blue group hint:  What you win.

Purple group hint: Not tight.

Read more: We Need to Talk About That Doggone Connections Puzzle

Today’s Connections answers

Yellow group: Discernment.

Green group: Fasten.

Blue group: Sports championship prizes.

Purple group: Loose ____.

CNET publishes daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is discernment.

The four answers are eye, flair, sense and taste.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is fasten.

The four answers are hitch, lash, tether and tie.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is sports championship prizes.

The four answers are belt, cup, jacket and ring.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is loose ____.

The four answers are cannon, change, ends and lips.

How to play Connections

In Connections, you look at a grid of 16 words and pick four words that have a connection to one other. You do this four times until all 16 words in the puzzle are grouped. The tough part is that Times puzzle editor Wyna Liu chooses words that could fit in multiple groups. The obvious guess — Hey, those are four animals! — is almost always going to be wrong. I’ve compiled my favorite tips for Connections if you need a boost.

The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of “Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the ’70s and ’80s,” as well as “The Totally Sweet ’90s.” She’s been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She’s Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she’ll be first in line.

See full bio