NYT Connections Hints & Answers — Sunday, October 26, 2025 (#868)

Puzzle #868. Start with a gentle nudge and work down — the full answers are at the bottom, hidden until you ask for them.

Just tell me the answer

The NYT Connections answer for Sunday, October 26, 2025 (puzzle #868) is: YELLOW — KINDS OF INSTRUMENTS: BRASS, PERCUSSION, STRING, WIND. GREEN — WORDS IN A FAMOUS MUHAMMAD ALI QUOTE: BEE, BUTTERFLY, FLOAT, STING. BLUE — KINDS OF CONTESTS: BEAUTY, POPULARITY, STARING, TALENT. PURPLE — WORDS WITH DIMINUTIVE SUFFIXES: DOGGY, DROPLET, KITCHENETTE, STARLING.

Today's 16 words

The grid exactly as NYT laid it out for Sunday, October 26, 2025. Nothing below this point is spoiled until you open it.

STARLING
BRASS
BEAUTY
BEE
STARING
FLOAT
DROPLET
WIND
STRING
TALENT
BUTTERFLY
KITCHENETTE
STING
DOGGY
PERCUSSION
POPULARITY

How hard is Connections #868?

Easy30/100
  • Four clean, meaning-based categories with little overlap.

Where to start: Every category here is meaning-based, so group by topic first and use the four-per-group constraint to settle any word that could go two ways.

Connections hints for Sunday, October 26, 2025

Four levels, each giving away a little more. Open only as many as you need.

NYT Connections answers for Sunday, October 26, 2025

Keep playing

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Common questions

What is the NYT Connections answer for Sunday, October 26, 2025?

The NYT Connections answer for Sunday, October 26, 2025 (puzzle #868) is: YELLOW — KINDS OF INSTRUMENTS: BRASS, PERCUSSION, STRING, WIND. GREEN — WORDS IN A FAMOUS MUHAMMAD ALI QUOTE: BEE, BUTTERFLY, FLOAT, STING. BLUE — KINDS OF CONTESTS: BEAUTY, POPULARITY, STARING, TALENT. PURPLE — WORDS WITH DIMINUTIVE SUFFIXES: DOGGY, DROPLET, KITCHENETTE, STARLING.

What is the purple group in Connections #868?

The purple (hardest) group is "WORDS WITH DIMINUTIVE SUFFIXES": DOGGY, DROPLET, KITCHENETTE, STARLING.

What is the easiest group in today's Connections puzzle?

The yellow group is the most straightforward: "KINDS OF INSTRUMENTS" — BRASS, PERCUSSION, STRING, WIND. Solving it first removes four words from the grid.

What number is today's Connections puzzle?

Sunday, October 26, 2025 is NYT Connections puzzle #868. Connections launched on 12 June 2023 with puzzle #1, and a new puzzle is published every day.

What time does a new NYT Connections puzzle come out?

A new Connections puzzle unlocks at midnight in your own local time zone, so the changeover happens at a different moment around the world. The puzzle itself is the same for everyone on a given date.