NEW YORK — Saturday's edition of The New York Times' Connections puzzle should feel friendlier than recent grids, but a cluster of shape-related words and a purple group with a punch could still trip up careless players.

Puzzle No. 1217, released for Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, asks players to sort 16 words into four hidden groups of four. The Times' Connections Companion rated the puzzle's difficulty at 2 out of 5, making it easier than Friday's puzzle.

Below are hints arranged from gentle to more revealing, strategy tips for avoiding today's traps and, for those who need them, the full answers.

Spoiler warning: The answers to today's Connections puzzle appear later in this article. Read only as far as you need.

How Connections works

Connections gives players a grid of 16 words and asks them to find four groups of four that share a common link. Players can make up to four mistakes before the game ends.

Each group is color-coded by difficulty. Yellow is typically the most straightforward, followed by green and blue, with purple usually the trickiest and often built on wordplay.

The Times launched Connections in June 2023, and it has become one of the most popular titles in its games lineup alongside Wordle and the crossword. Its appeal lies in red herrings, words that appear to fit more than one category but belong to only one.

A new puzzle is released at midnight local time.

Saturday's grid includes the following words:

OUTLINE, SHADOW, FEED, FIGURE, DRAFT, IMAGINE, KICK,........

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