It’s a sleepy Sunday, but it’s also time to wrap up your week with another round of NYT Connections hints and solutions. Today’s puzzle will be easy for some, including boxing fans, but I’ve still provided the best hints around so that you can get things finished as fast as possible, then get on with the rest of your weekend.
Read on to get the full scope of today’s NYT Connections hints.
What is NYT Connections?
It would be remiss of me not to give a little foundational backstory before leaping into today’s NYT Connections clues and hints.
In June 2023, NYT Connections emerged as yet another game in the ever-growing New York Times lineup. This title soared immediately, and it’s easy to see why. As a free-to-play, accessible New York Times game, NYT Connections is available to users worldwide and can be played on either desktop devices or via a mobile app.
Playing NYT Connections on your commute or while waiting for a coffee is a fantastic way to kill a few minutes.
But how do you play NYT Connections?

It’s relatively simple, and that’s why it’s the best New York Times game, in my opinion.
The NYT team will provide you with a grid of 16 words once a day. The only task left up to you is to sort those words into four groups of four by finding their commonalities. Every NYT Connections puzzle has just one solution, and some words might have a double meaning, so it can sometimes be tricky to figure out the answers.
It’s also important to stress that the words are color-coded: yellow, blue, green, and purple. That’s in order of difficulty from least to most difficult, too.
What’s critical here is that you get four guesses every day, and if you use those, your NYT Connections answers for today will be out of reach, as it’ll be game over.
Today’s NYT Connections Hints (October 26)
If you want to figure out today’s NYT Connections clues without getting the answers outright, I’ll start with the words themselves. Perhaps just seeing the words here will spur your brain into action, and you’ll spot the trends immediately.
Here are the NYT Connections words from today’s puzzle, #868:
- BEE
- BUTTERFLY
- FLOAT
- STING
- BRASS
- PERCUSSION
- STRING
- WIND
- BEAUTY
- POPULARITY
- STARING
- TALENT
- DOGGY
- DROPLET
- KITCHENETTE
- STARLING
And here are the hints I can offer for today’s NYT Connections:
- Yellow – Think orchestra sections! These are categories of musical instruments
- Green – These all describe creatures or actions associated with light movement or flight
- Blue – These words relate to qualities often judged or admired in people or performances
- Purple – This group plays with diminutives or cozy-sounding words
Here’s the final warning before we get to the NYT Connections answers for today, October 26.
Are you sure you want to scroll further?
Very well!
NYT Connections Answers for Today, October 26 (#868)
If you want to jump straight to the answers for today’s NYT Connections puzzle, I’ve got you covered:
- Yellow – BRASS, PERCUSSION, STRING, WIND
- Green – BEE, BUTTERFLY, FLOAT, STING
- Blue – BEAUTY, POPULARITY, STARING, TALENT
- Purple – DOGGY, DROPLET, KITCHENETTE, STARLING
When Does NYT Connections Reset?
That’s today’s puzzle, but if you want the next one, the game resets daily at midnight local time (that’s your local time). You’ll have 24 hours to complete the puzzle when midnight ticks over in your timezone.
How did you do? Did you get a perfect run? Let me know what your streak looks like on the Insider Gaming Discord server



