Here are today’s Connections hints and answers for NYT Connections No. 1,237 on Friday, Oct. 30, 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 (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.
Yellow group hint: Say cheese!
Green group hint: Break a leg!
Blue group hint: First word means “toss.”
Purple group hint: Healthy foods, with a twist.
Today’s Connections answers
Yellow group: Parts of a camera.
Green group: Around a theater stage.
Blue group: Throw ____.
Purple group: Fruit with first letter changed.
CNET publishes daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.
What are today’s Connections answers?
The completed NYT Connections puzzle for Oct. 30, 2026.NYT/Screenshot by CNET
The yellow words in today’s Connections
The theme is parts of a camera.
The four answers are flash, lens, shutter and viewfinder.
The green words in today’s Connections
The theme is around a theater stage.
The four answers are backdrop, curtain, pit and wings.
The blue words in today’s Connections
The theme is throw ____.
The four answers are hands, pillow, rug and shade.
The purple words in today’s Connections
The theme is fruit with first letter changed.
The four answers are demon (lemon), drape (grape), glum (plum) and grange (orange).
Let’s talk about today’s Connections puzzle
My late mother-in-law loved puzzles, and she used to regularly groan about how her vast repertoire of knowledge was being outpaced by modern terms and references a woman born in 1936 was unlikely to know. I wonder what she would think about “throw shade” and “throw hands” in today’s blue group. Now, “throw pillow” and “throw rug”? Those two she’d have aced. I actually welcome the puzzle stretching out and incorporating a mix of modern and vintage references. That’s what makes it fun.
How to play Connections
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 Times puzzle editor Wyna Liu chooses words that could fit in multiple groups. The obvious guess — hey, those are four animals! — is almost always going to be wrong. I’ve compiled my favorite tips for Connections if you need a boost.
The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of “Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the ’70s and ’80s,” as well as “The Totally Sweet ’90s.” She’s been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She’s Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she’ll be first in line.
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