If you dey find di Connections answer for Tuesday, October 13, 2026, read on. Tim Mulkerin na freelance writer, editor, and social media manager wey don dey work for digital media and tech world since 2016.
He get bachelor’s degree in art history and he dey pursue master’s degree in communicative sciences and disorders from New York University. He live for Brooklyn, New York.
Beware, spoilers dey below for October 13, NYT Connections #1,220. Read on if you want small hints and then di answer to today’s Connections game. If you want easy way to come back to our Connections hints every day, bookmark this page. If you play Wordle or Strands, check out our hints for those games too.
Below, I go give you some oblique hints at today’s Connections answers. And farther down di page, I go reveal di themes and di answers. Scroll slowly and take just di hints wey you need.
Here are spoiler-free hints wey describe di type of each category for today’s Connections. We dey about to give away some of di answers. Scroll slowly if you no want di whole thing spoiled. Di full solution dey small further down.
LASH, LIPS, and EYE all belong to separate categories. LASH na verb. ENDS goes with a word to describe wetin you may want to tie up, metaphorically speaking. A BELT might be given to a wrestler or boxer.
Ready to learn di answers to today’s Connections puzzle? I go give them all away below. Di yellow grouping na di most straightforward. Di theme for today’s yellow group na DISCERNMENT and di words na EYE, FLAIR, SENSE, TASTE.
Di green grouping na supposed to be di second-easiest. Di theme for today’s green category na FASTEN and di words na FASTEN, HITCH, LASH, TETHER, TIE.
Di blue grouping na di second-hardest. Di theme for today’s blue category na SPORTS CHAMPIONSHIP PRIZES and di words na BELT, CUP, JACKET, RING.
Di purple grouping na considered to be di hardest. Di theme for today’s purple category na LOOSE ___ and di words na CANNON, CHANGE, ENDS, LIPS.
HITCH and TETHER seem like synonyms for tying or affixing two things together. Maybe TIE and LASH work there too. I thought CANNON might go with ball, but I no see other words wey fit that theme. TASTE and SENSE might go together as detecting verbs, but I no see others like that. Maybe EYE could be a verb? BELT, JACKET, and RING work as outfit accessories, but I no see a fourth. Maybe CANNON actually goes with loose to make di phrase loose CANNON; that one go also work with CHANGE, LIPS, and ENDS. TASTE, SENSE, FLAIR, and EYE could all go together as words wey refer to skill or aptitude, like I get a TASTE for something or I get a good EYE for something. That one leave RING, JACKET, CUP, and BELT. CUP na odd one. Are they items associated with boxing, maybe? Ah, no, I think na items wey person fit give as trophies for sports competition.
I get a full guide to playing Connections, but here na refresher on di rules. First, find di Connections game either on di New York Times website or for their Games app, formerly di Crossword app. You go see a game board with 16 tiles, each with one word or phrase. Your job na to select a group of four tiles wey get something in common. Often they are all di same type of thing, for example RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, and SNOW na all types of wet weather, but sometimes wordplay dey involved, for example BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH na all types of lists: bucket list, guest list, and so on. Select four items and hit di Submit button. If you guess correct, di category and color go show. Yellow na easiest, followed by green, then blue, then purple. If your guess no correct, you go get chance to try again. You win when you don correctly identify all four groups. But if you make four mistakes before you finish, di game end and di answers go show.
Di most important thing to know to win Connections na say di groupings dey designed to be tricky. Expect to see overlapping groups. For example, one puzzle seemed to include six breakfast foods: BACON, EGG, PANCAKE, OMELET, WAFFLE, and CEREAL. But BACON turn out to be part of a group of painters along with CLOSE, MUNCH, and WHISTLER, and EGG dey inside a group of things wey come by di dozen along with JUROR, ROSE, and MONTH. So no hit submit until you don confirm say your group of four contain only those four things. If you stuck, another strategy na to look at di words wey seem to get no connection to di others. If all wey come to mind when you see WHISTLER na di painting nicknamed Whistler’s Mother, you might dey on to something. When I solve that one, I end up googling whether a painter named Close dey, because Close no fit any of di obvious themes either. Another way to win when you stuck na, obviously, to read small helpful hints—which na why we dey share these pointers every day. Not di day you dey after? Here na di solution to yesterday’s Connections.
