Here are today’s Connections hints and answers for NYT Connections No. 1,226 on Monday, Oct. 19, 2026. It helps if you’re at least a little bit familiar with a certain fast-food giant. 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: Grr…

Green group hint: Not buying what you’re saying.

Blue group hint: I’m lovin’ it.

Purple group hint: Feathered friends are hidden in these words.

Today’s Connections answers

Yellow group: Seethe.

Green group: All talk.

Blue group: “Mc” things at McDonald’s.

Purple group: Ending in birds.

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 seethe.

The four answers are boil, fume, rave and steam.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is all talk.

The four answers are blather, gas, hot air and wind.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is “Mc” things at McDonald’s.

The four answers are flurry, muffin, nuggets and rib.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ending in birds.

The four answers are alibis (ibis), balloon (loon), escrow (crow) and mohawk (hawk).

How to play Connections

In Connections, you look at a grid of 16 words and pick four words that have a connection to one another. 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.

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