Today's Puzzle Hints

Here are today's Connections hints and answers for NYT Connections No. 1,223 on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. Geography experts, this one's for you. Both the green and the blue groups involve countries. 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: Something's wrong with that.

Green group hint: Long way to the water.

Blue group hint: Countries, with a twist.

Purple group hint: Synonyms for fashionable are hidden in these words.

Today's Puzzle Answers

Yellow group: Surface imperfections.

Green group: Landlocked countries.

Blue group: European countries minus a letter.

Purple group: Starting with words for stylish.

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

The yellow words in today's Connections

The theme is surface imperfections.

The four answers are chip, mark, nick and scratch.

The green words in today's Connections

The theme is landlocked countries.

The four answers are Chad, Hungary, Laos and Paraguay.

The blue words in today's Connections

The theme is European countries minus a letter.

The four answers are Bulgari, Cyrus, hungry and span.

The purple words in today's Connections

The theme is starting with words for stylish.

The four answers are chicken, Coolidge, hippo and Smarties.

Gameplay Overview

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 puzzle editors choose words that could fit in multiple groups.

The Times has a Connections Bot to receive a numeric score and analyze your answers after you play. Registered players can also track their progress, including puzzles completed, win rate, and win streaks.