Here are today’s Connections hints and answers for NYT Connections No. 1,234 on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026.
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 purple group.
Yellow group hint: Leave that alone!
Green group hint: Can you hear me now?
Blue group hint: Ring!
Purple group hint: Ring ring!
Today’s Connections answers
Yellow group: Mess (with).
Green group: Parts of the ear.
Blue group: ____bell.
Purple group: Bell ____.
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 mess (with).
Puzzle Breakdown
The four answers are fiddle, meddle, tinker and trifle.
The green words in today’s Connections
The theme is parts of the ear.
The four answers are anvil, canal, drum and stirrup.
The blue words in today’s Connections
The theme is ____ bell.
The four answers are diving, jingle, liberty and taco.
The purple words in today’s Connections
The theme is bell ____.
The four answers are bottoms, jar, pepper and tower.
Analysis
Players encountered two distinct bell categories today, featuring words that either preceded or followed "bell" in a phrase. Once "bottoms" appeared, identifying the bell-bottoms category tied back to the 1970s fashion trend.
Gameplay Mechanics
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 challenge is that puzzle editor Wyna Liu chooses words that could fit in multiple groups.
The Times provides a Connections Bot for players to receive numeric scores and analyze their answers after completion. Registered users can also track their progress, including puzzles completed, win rate, and win streaks.
