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Today’s Connections looks friendly at first glance, then sets one of the cleanest traps of the week: four words that look like a perfect set, and are nothing of the sort. Here are spoiler-free hints first, then the full answers for puzzle #1232.

How we verify: every answer on this page is pulled from the official NYT puzzle data and double-checked before publishing. Last updated: Oct 25, 2026.

Connections Hints for Today (No Spoilers)

• One group is slang for taking things that do not belong to you.
• Four of these words are shapes of pasta you can find in any supermarket.
• The blue group is literary: four famous characters who share the same first name.
• The purple group is about things that can be snapped, a sound, a pass, a light and a band.
• The trap: ELBOW, FINGERS, PALM and THUMB look like a perfect body-parts set. They are not. Each one belongs to a different group.

Today’s Connections Answers

Here is the full solution for puzzle #1232. Tap a card below to flip it and reveal each group.

STEAL (Yellow): BOOST, PALM, POCKET, SWIPE

PASTA SHAPES (Green): BOW TIE, ELBOW, SHELL, WAGON WHEEL

THINGS THAT CAN BE SNAPPED (Purple): FINGERS, FOOTBALL, GLOW STICK, RUBBER BAND

FICTIONAL TOMS (Blue): RIPLEY, SAWYER, SWIFT, THUMB

How We Solved Today’s Connections

The first thing we noticed was the body-parts bait. ELBOW, FINGERS, PALM and THUMB sitting together on the board is a classic Connections trap, and the moment you see four words that fit together that neatly, you should assume they do not. We set them aside and worked group by group instead.

The yellow group came first. POCKET and SWIPE are both casual verbs for stealing, and once PALM joined them, BOOST clicked as the fourth, car theft slang that solvers often miss.

Then the pantry opened up. BOW TIE, SHELL and WAGON WHEEL are all pasta shapes, and ELBOW, the leftover body part, is elbow macaroni, which locked the green group in place.

For blue, the shared first name was the key. RIPLEY is Tom Ripley, SAWYER is Tom Sawyer, and THUMB is Tom Thumb. That left SWIFT, Tom Swift of the old adventure novels, and the group was complete.

The four remaining words, FINGERS, FOOTBALL, GLOW STICK and RUBBER BAND, all snapped into the purple group, each in a different sense of the word, which is exactly why it was the hardest group to see.

Why Today’s Connections Is Tricky (Difficulty: 3/5)

• The body-parts red herring is unusually clean: four words, each sitting in a different group, and together they look like the most obvious set on the board.
• SWIFT pulls double duty. Most solvers think of the singer first, while the puzzle wants Tom Swift, the hero of a century-old book series.
• BOW TIE reads as clothing and ELBOW reads as a joint, so the pasta group only appears once you stop seeing the words literally.
• SNAP has four different senses here, a sound, a football pass, a glow stick and a rubber band, and the category only clicks when you accept all four meanings at once.

Connections Strategy: 5 Tips That Help Today

• Solve the yellow group first. It is the most direct category and it clears four words off the board fast.
• When four words fit together too neatly, be suspicious. Connections plants one clean-looking fake set in most puzzles.
• Say the category out loud before submitting. If you cannot name the link in a few words, the group is probably wrong.
• Check every word for a second meaning. ELBOW, SWIFT and BOW TIE all change category once you look past the first reading.
• Leave the purple group for last. It is built on one word with four different meanings, and the leftovers usually point straight at it.

Yesterday’s Connections Answer

Yesterday’s Connections (#1231, October 24, 2026) had the categories KINDS OF STRIPS (BACON, COMIC, FILM, MÖBIUS), THINGS ON STICKS (HOBBY HORSE, PINWHEEL, POPSICLE, SPARKLER), ONLINE AD FORMATS (BANNER, INTERSTITIAL, OVERLAY, POP-UP) and ___ BAR (CANDY, SALAD, SPACE, SPORTS).

Connections FAQs

What is today’s Connections answer?

Today’s Connections answers for October 25, 2026, puzzle number 1232, are STEAL, PASTA SHAPES, THINGS THAT CAN BE SNAPPED, and FICTIONAL TOMS.

What are today’s Connections categories?

The four categories are STEAL, PASTA SHAPES, THINGS THAT CAN BE SNAPPED, and FICTIONAL TOMS.

Why is the body parts group wrong today?

ELBOW, FINGERS, PALM and THUMB look like body parts, but each one belongs to a different group: ELBOW is a pasta shape, FINGERS can be snapped, PALM means to steal, and THUMB is a fictional Tom.

What is the purple category today?

The purple category is THINGS THAT CAN BE SNAPPED: FINGERS, FOOTBALL, GLOW STICK, and RUBBER BAND.

What was yesterday’s Connections answer?

Yesterday’s puzzle, number 1231, had the categories KINDS OF STRIPS, THINGS ON STICKS, ONLINE AD FORMATS, and ___ BAR.

How hard is today’s Connections?

We rate it 3 out of 5, mostly because of the body-parts trap that catches almost every solver.

Solved it? Come back tomorrow for a fresh grid, and if you fancy a different kind of word puzzle, today’s Strands answers and today’s Wordle answer are waiting on WordFinder Tips.