NYT Connections Reveals October 20 Puzzle Categories and Answers

The New York Times Connections puzzle for October 20, 2026, challenges players to sort 16 words into four groups based on shared meanings or linguistic connections. Coverage from CNET and Mashable identifies the categories as finishes, subordinates, mustache styles, and homophones of Disney characters, with each group containing four answers.

The puzzle, numbered 1,227 according to CNET, ranges from straightforward vocabulary associations to a more unusual final category. The New York Times' accompanying Connections guide reports a difficulty rating of 2.6 out of 5 from its advance puzzle testers.

The yellow category focuses on words associated with bringing something to an end. According to CNET, the four answers are close, end, stop, and wrap. Mashable's explanations distinguish the terms through meanings involving conclusions, limits, cessation, and covering an object.

The green category centers on subordinates who follow another person's instructions. Its answers are minion, poodle, puppet, and stooge, as listed by CNET. Mashable explains that these words can describe people who obey powerful figures or act under someone else's direction.

The blue category brings together four terms associated with mustache styles. CNET identifies the answers as chevron, horseshoe, pencil, and walrus. The grouping relies on the names used for different mustache shapes or styles rather than on the words' other possible meanings.

The purple category presents the puzzle's more unusual wordplay challenge. According to CNET, the group consists of homophones of Disney characters, requiring players to recognize words that sound like character names rather than simply share a literal definition.

Connections presents players with a grid of 16 words and requires them to form four groups of four. The New York Times Games format allows words to have overlapping associations, making it necessary to identify the intended connection instead of grouping terms by an obvious but incorrect similarity.

The New York Times releases Connections at midnight in each player's local time zone. Its daily companion coverage uses Eastern Standard Time dates to distinguish editions across time zones, according to the newspaper's puzzle guide.

Players can also review their performance through the Connections Bot, which analyzes completed puzzles and provides a numerical score. The New York Times says registered Games users can track completed puzzles, win rates, perfect scores, and winning streaks.