MEDIUMPuzzle #1201

NYT Connections Hints & Answers (#1201) – Today's Puzzle, Sep 24

TODAY'S NYT CONNECTIONS TIP

“Start by identifying PARTS OF A VAMPIRE COSTUME (CAPE, FACE PAINT...) to narrow down the remaining 16-word grid!”

Written by Naveed Ahmed · Updated: September 24, 2026

← Yesterday's Connections Hint (#1200, Sep 23)

Connections Hint for Each Word Today

Tap any word to see its Connections hint — what it means in today's puzzle, no spoilers.

CAPE hint: In the context of a vampire costume, "CAPE" stands out as a clear, defining example within this group.

FACE PAINT hint: In the context of a vampire costume, "FACE PAINT" stands out as a clear, defining example within this group.

FAKE BLOOD hint: In the context of a vampire costume, "FAKE BLOOD" stands out as a clear, defining example within this group.

FANGS hint: In the context of a vampire costume, "FANGS" stands out as a clear, defining example within this group.

BOBBLEHEAD hint: In the context of things with spring/s, "BOBBLEHEAD" stands out as a clear, defining example within this group.

POGO STICK hint: In the context of things with spring/s, "POGO STICK" stands out as a clear, defining example within this group.

SNAKES IN A CAN hint: In the context of things with spring/s, "SNAKES IN A CAN" stands out as a clear, defining example within this group.

TRAMPOLINE hint: In the context of things with spring/s, "TRAMPOLINE" stands out as a clear, defining example within this group.

CREATION OF ADAM hint: In the context of featuring pointing, "CREATION OF ADAM" stands out as a clear, defining example within this group.

FOAM FINGER hint: In the context of featuring pointing, "FOAM FINGER" stands out as a clear, defining example within this group.

I'M WITH STUPID SHIRT hint: In the context of featuring pointing, "I'M WITH STUPID SHIRT" stands out as a clear, defining example within this group.

UNCLE SAM hint: In the context of featuring pointing, "UNCLE SAM" stands out as a clear, defining example within this group.

BEER HAT hint: In this wordplay group, "BEER HAT" fulfills the structural letter condition (such as anagrams, hidden words, or double letters).

BREATHE hint: In this wordplay group, "BREATHE" fulfills the structural letter condition (such as anagrams, hidden words, or double letters).

HERB TEA hint: In this wordplay group, "HERB TEA" fulfills the structural letter condition (such as anagrams, hidden words, or double letters).

THE BEAR hint: In this wordplay group, "THE BEAR" fulfills the structural letter condition (such as anagrams, hidden words, or double letters).

Hints uncovered0 / 16

Today's NYT Connections Hints for All Four Categories

Reveal progressively: see the category hint first, then the group name, then individual words — stop whenever you have enough.

🟡 Straightforward

🟢 Medium

🔵 Hard

🟣 Tricky

⚠️Traps & Misdirects Hints for Today’s Connections Puzzle

Today’s Connections puzzle includes words intentionally placed to misdirect you into wrong groups. These traps and misdirects hints reveal which words are designed to mislead, so you don’t burn your 4 allowed mistakes on deliberate decoys.

BOBBLEHEAD, POGO STICK, SNAKES IN A CAN, TRAMPOLINE

In today's medium category (THINGS WITH SPRING/S), pay close attention to subtle shifts in meaning. Words like BOBBLEHEAD, POGO STICK, SNAKES IN A CAN, TRAMPOLINE may appear to belong to other everyday contexts, but their true connection lies in their shared relationship to THINGS WITH SPRING/S.

BEER HAT, BREATHE, HERB TEA, THE BEAR

The trickiest grouping today is "ANAGRAMS". Words such as BEER HAT, BREATHE, HERB TEA, THE BEAR are designed as intentional misdirects. Look past their obvious surface meanings for hidden wordplay or secondary definitions.

CREATION OF ADAM, FOAM FINGER, I'M WITH STUPID SHIRT, UNCLE SAM

Be careful with overlap between CREATION OF ADAM, FOAM FINGER, I'M WITH STUPID SHIRT, UNCLE SAM and other categories on the board. The editor often places decoy pairings in "FEATURING POINTING" to trap unsuspecting players into using up their 4 allowed mistakes.

Today's NYT Connections Answers

Click to reveal the complete solution — all four categories.

Category: PARTS OF A VAMPIRE COSTUME (Straightforward) — Answers: CAPE, FACE PAINT, FAKE BLOOD, FANGS

Category: THINGS WITH SPRING/S (Medium) — Answers: BOBBLEHEAD, POGO STICK, SNAKES IN A CAN, TRAMPOLINE

Category: FEATURING POINTING (Hard) — Answers: CREATION OF ADAM, FOAM FINGER, I'M WITH STUPID SHIRT, UNCLE SAM

Category: ANAGRAMS (Tricky) — Answers: BEER HAT, BREATHE, HERB TEA, THE BEAR

Today's NYT Connections Answers Explained

PARTS OF A VAMPIRE COSTUME

The words CAPE, FACE PAINT, FAKE BLOOD, FANGS all share a unique thematic connection as parts of a vampire costume.

CAPE

In the context of a vampire costume, "CAPE" stands out as a clear, defining example within this group.

FACE PAINT

In the context of a vampire costume, "FACE PAINT" stands out as a clear, defining example within this group.

FAKE BLOOD

In the context of a vampire costume, "FAKE BLOOD" stands out as a clear, defining example within this group.

FANGS

In the context of a vampire costume, "FANGS" stands out as a clear, defining example within this group.

THINGS WITH SPRING/S

The words BOBBLEHEAD, POGO STICK, SNAKES IN A CAN, TRAMPOLINE all share a unique thematic connection as things with spring/s.

BOBBLEHEAD

In the context of things with spring/s, "BOBBLEHEAD" stands out as a clear, defining example within this group.

POGO STICK

In the context of things with spring/s, "POGO STICK" stands out as a clear, defining example within this group.

SNAKES IN A CAN

In the context of things with spring/s, "SNAKES IN A CAN" stands out as a clear, defining example within this group.

TRAMPOLINE

In the context of things with spring/s, "TRAMPOLINE" stands out as a clear, defining example within this group.

FEATURING POINTING

The words CREATION OF ADAM, FOAM FINGER, I'M WITH STUPID SHIRT, UNCLE SAM all share a unique thematic connection as featuring pointing.

CREATION OF ADAM

In the context of featuring pointing, "CREATION OF ADAM" stands out as a clear, defining example within this group.

FOAM FINGER

In the context of featuring pointing, "FOAM FINGER" stands out as a clear, defining example within this group.

I'M WITH STUPID SHIRT

In the context of featuring pointing, "I'M WITH STUPID SHIRT" stands out as a clear, defining example within this group.

UNCLE SAM

In the context of featuring pointing, "UNCLE SAM" stands out as a clear, defining example within this group.

ANAGRAMS

The words BEER HAT, BREATHE, HERB TEA, THE BEAR all share a unique thematic connection as anagrams.

BEER HAT

In this wordplay group, "BEER HAT" fulfills the structural letter condition (such as anagrams, hidden words, or double letters).

BREATHE

In this wordplay group, "BREATHE" fulfills the structural letter condition (such as anagrams, hidden words, or double letters).

HERB TEA

In this wordplay group, "HERB TEA" fulfills the structural letter condition (such as anagrams, hidden words, or double letters).

THE BEAR

In this wordplay group, "THE BEAR" fulfills the structural letter condition (such as anagrams, hidden words, or double letters).

What Makes Today’s NYT Connections Puzzle Tricky?

BOBBLEHEAD, POGO STICK, SNAKES IN A CAN, TRAMPOLINE sit alongside CREATION OF ADAM, FOAM FINGER, I'M WITH STUPID SHIRT, UNCLE SAM and phrases like BEER HAT, BREATHE, HERB TEA, THE BEAR — a collision of distinct word groups and subtle misdirects.

The editor's sharpest trick is hiding a word-within-a-word: some of the multi-word phrases are not grouped by their topic but by what their first word secretly means.

How to Use Connections Hints

Everyone playing NYT Connections puzzle gets stuck at a different point. Some players can’t figure out a single word. Others have three groups solved and can’t find the fourth. Where you are stuck determines which connection hint you need.

A word in the puzzle has an unfamiliar meaning

Some words in today’s NYT Connections puzzle are uncommon. Connections editor Wyna Liu often uses words with specific or less familiar meanings, particularly in the green, blue, and purple categories. If you don’t know what a word means, you cannot reliably place it in a group.

Recommendation: Use the Word Hint. It tells you what the word means in the context of today’s puzzle. Tap any word directly on the board above to see its hint.

No groups are forming after reading all sixteen words

The connection between words is often not obvious from their meanings alone — categories are built around themes that require a specific angle to see. These category-level clues are the most useful hints.

Recommendation: Use the Category Hint. It points you toward the theme of a category without revealing the category name or which words belong to it. Tap “Yellow Category Hint” first.

You have a possible group but aren’t ready to guess

You think four words belong together but you’re not confident enough to guess. If you’re unsure, don’t guess yet — a wrong guess costs you one of your four mistakes.

Recommendation: Use the Category Name. It reveals the exact name of the category without showing you which words belong to it.

One word seems to fit more than one group

You have built a group of four words but one word in it could also fit somewhere else. NYT Connections editor Wyna Liu deliberately places misleading words on the board.

Recommendation: Use the Traps and Misdirects Hints. It identifies the specific misleading words in today’s puzzle and explains why they don’t belong where you think they do.

You know the category but can’t find all four words

You have identified the theme of a category but can’t find all four words that belong to it.

Recommendation: Use the Word Reveal. It uncovers one masked word at a time without revealing the full group. This is the most precise connection hint available.

One mistake left with two groups unsolved

You have one mistake remaining and two groups unsolved. If you guess wrong here, the game ends and NYT reveals all the answers automatically.

Recommendation: Do not guess yet. Use the Category Name for both remaining groups first. If that is still not enough, tap “Category Words” and reveal one word at a time.

You want today’s answers without solving the puzzle

Use the Answers section. It shows all four category names and the four words that belong to each one.

Recommendation: Go to the Answers section.

The puzzle is over but a category still doesn’t make sense

You can see the four groups and their words but the connection between them isn’t clear.

Recommendation: Use the Answer Explanation. It tells you exactly what connects the words in each category and why each individual word belongs there.

Browse Past Puzzles

View answers and hints for every previous NYT Connections puzzle.

Puzzle Archive →

Frequently Asked Questions

NYT Connections is a daily word puzzle by The New York Times where you group 16 words into 4 categories of 4 words each. Each category has a hidden theme color-coded by difficulty.

Yellow is the most straightforward category, Green is medium difficulty, Blue is harder, and Purple contains the trickiest, most misleading groupings.

Yes, NYT Connections is free to play once per day on the New York Times Games website.

A new NYT Connections puzzle releases every day at midnight in your local time zone (12:00 AM ET for US Eastern Time).

Naveed Ahmed

@NaveedAhmedDev•@naveedcolab

Lead Writer & Connections Puzzle Analyst

Naveed is a dedicated puzzle strategist and word game analyst who breaks down daily NYT Connections categories, uncovers tricky wordplay patterns, and delivers progressive, spoiler-free clues to help thousands of players solve every puzzle.