By Akash Wadhwani. Checked against two sources, updated 1:30 AM ET.
Sixteen words and four groups of four. Yellow is usually the straightforward one and purple is usually wordplay, so the hints below go one step at a time.
Hint 1: one word from each group
Yellow: one of the four is CAPE.
Green: one of the four is BOBBLEHEAD.
Blue: one of the four is UNCLE SAM.
Purple: one of the four is BREATHE.
Hint 2: the four categories
Yellow: Parts Of A Vampire Costume.
Green: Things With Spring/s.
Blue: Featuring Pointing.
Purple: Anagrams.
THE BEARFOAM FINGERPOGO STICKFACE PAINTBOBBLEHEADBEER HATUNCLE SAMCAPECREATION OF ADAMTRAMPOLINEFANGSBREATHEFAKE BLOODI'M WITH STUPID SHIRTSNAKES IN A CANHERB TEA
Today's Connections groups, #1,201
Yellow, Parts Of A Vampire Costume: CAPE, FACE PAINT, FAKE BLOOD, FANGS.
Green, Things With Spring/s: BOBBLEHEAD, POGO STICK, SNAKES IN A CAN, TRAMPOLINE.
Blue, Featuring Pointing: CREATION OF ADAM, FOAM FINGER, I'M WITH STUPID SHIRT, UNCLE SAM.
Purple, Anagrams: BEER HAT, BREATHE, HERB TEA, THE BEAR.
The purple group
Purple today is Anagrams: BEER HAT, BREATHE, HERB TEA, THE BEAR. Purple is the group the setters build last, and it is usually a hidden word, a sound, or a phrase pattern rather than a plain category. If two of its words looked like they belonged somewhere else, that was the point.
Yesterday's Connections
Connections #1,202, September 25, 2026: Luxe (BOUGIE, FANCY, POSH, SWANK); Parts Of A Mechanical Clock (ESCAPEMENT, PENDULUM, RATCHET, SPRING); Famous Dans (AYKROYD, LEVY, RATHER, SAVAGE); Taxonomic Ranks Plus A Letter (BORDER, CLASSY, FOAMILY, GENIUS). Yesterday's page ›
Connections is four groups. This one is five words.
One real news sentence a day, twenty to thirty words, something that actually happened. Keep the five words a headline would keep and let the rest go. Here is yesterday's, solved.
At Camden Lock, a 71-year-oldwoman, Beatrice Millar, took off her shoes, jumped in after a drowningman and saved him by holding his head above water.
Five tries. blue is the right word in the right place, orange is one of the five sitting somewhere else, grey is not one of them. The result beats the process, a name or a job beats a place, and the little words never count.