Connections Hint and Answers Today (#1232, October 25, 2026)
Today’s NYT Connections puzzle, #1232 for Sunday, October 25, 2026, is a Sunday board with a sneaky shape. The yellow group falls fast once you see the shared verb, the green group is a trip to an Italian kitchen, the blue group demands you know your fictional Toms, and the purple group is a satisfying snap, crackle, and pop of a finish. If your mistakes are running low, work through the category hints below in order, from yellow to purple, and only scroll to the full answers when you are ready. Each hint spoils a little more than the one before it.
Today’s 16 words
Here is the full board for puzzle #1232:
- BOW TIE
- BOOST
- ELBOW
- FINGERS
- FOOTBALL
- GLOW STICK
- PALM
- RIPLEY
- RUBBER BAND
- SAWYER
- SHELL
- SWIPE
- SWIFT
- THUMB
- WAGON WHEEL
Category hints (no answers yet)
Work through these in order. Yellow is the group Connections intends to be the most straightforward, and purple is the trickiest.
Yellow hint
Think about taking something that is not yours. Four of today’s words can all be verbs for quietly making off with something, from a wallet to a whole idea.
Green hint
Think of an Italian restaurant menu. Four of today’s words are shapes that pasta comes in, and one of them is a shape you have definitely tied around your neck at a formal dinner, in a different context entirely.
Blue hint
Think of characters from stories, films, and books. Four of today’s words are surnames, and every one of them belongs to a fictional character whose first name is Tom. One is a thumb, one is a sawyer, and the other two will click once you say the first name out loud.
Purple hint
Think of things that make a sharp sound or break with a snap when you work on them. Four of today’s words can all be snapped, bent, cracked, or broken with your hands, from a party accessory to a part of your own body.
Spoiler warning
Stop here if you want to keep solving on your own. The complete solved board for Connections #1232, with all four category names and explanations, is directly below.
Today’s Connections answers
Yellow: STEAL
BOOST, PALM, POCKET, SWIPE
Each of these four words can be a verb meaning to steal. You boost a car or a wallet, you palm a card, you pocket something that is not yours, and you swipe a phone or a credit card. This is the group most players find first, because the shared verb meaning is strong once you stop reading the words as nouns. PALM is the trap word here, since it also belongs to the body, but its verb sense, to palm something away, is what the puzzle wants.
Green: PASTA SHAPES
BOW TIE, ELBOW, SHELL, WAGON WHEEL
These are four shapes that pasta comes in. Bow tie pasta is farfalle, elbow pasta is the macaroni shape, shell pasta is conchiglie, and wagon wheel pasta is rotelle. ELBOW is the word that pulls double duty on this board, since it is also a body part, and SHELL can be a beach find, but in the kitchen they are both unmistakably pasta. Once you spot one shape, the rest of the Italian menu follows quickly.
Blue: FICTIONAL TOMS
RIPLEY, SAWYER, SWIFT, THUMB
These are the surnames of four fictional characters all named Tom. Tom Ripley is the charming con artist of Patricia Highsmith’s novels, Tom Sawyer is Mark Twain’s mischievous hero, Tom Swift is the boy inventor of the classic adventure series, and Tom Thumb is the tiny hero of folklore. This is the knowledge-check group of the day, and the one that rewards readers. If you know even two of the four Toms, the other two fall into place by elimination, because no other surnames on the board pair with a shared first name.
Purple: THINGS THAT CAN BE SNAPPED
FINGERS, FOOTBALL, GLOW STICK, RUBBER BAND
Each of these can be snapped. You snap your fingers, you snap a football in American football, you snap a glow stick to activate it, and you snap a rubber band. This is the trickiest group because the verb changes slightly for each word, from a sound to a sports move to a physical break, and FOOTBALL is the word most players misplace, since it looks like it belongs nowhere near a snap until you think of the center snapping the ball. Once that clicks, the group is complete, and the board is solved.
How today’s board was built to trick you
Three words on this board do serious double duty. PALM is a body part and a verb for stealing. ELBOW is a body part and a pasta shape. THUMB is a body part and a fictional Tom. Add FINGERS, another body part, sitting in the purple group, and the board is full of body-part decoys designed to pull you toward a group that does not exist. The winning strategy on a board like this is to trust the strongest verb or category link first, in this case STEAL, and then let the leftovers sort themselves. If you found yourself grouping PALM, THUMB, ELBOW, and FINGERS together, you were not wrong about the words, you were just one step away from the puzzle’s real groups.
Yesterday’s answers, for reference
Yesterday’s Connections puzzle, #1231 for October 24, 2026, solved as KINDS OF STRIPS (BACON, COMIC, FILM, MOBIUS), THINGS ON STICKS (HOBBY HORSE, PINWHEEL, POPSICLE, SPARKLER), ONLINE AD FORMATS (BANNER, INTERSTITIAL, OVERLAY, POP-UP), and ___ BAR (CANDY, SALAD, SPACE, SPORTS). If you missed that board, it is a good warm-up for today’s body-part decoys, since it used the same trick of words that fit two groups at once.
Did you solve Connections #1232 without a mistake, or did the purple group cost you a guess? Come back tomorrow for the next board, with fresh hints, a spoiler-safe reveal, and the same no-rush format.
