Today's Connections has four hidden groups of four. Start with a gentle nudge and only open more if you need it.
Hint 1: One word from each group
Each of these words belongs to a different group.
- Yellow (easiest): GNARLY
- Green: DIRTY
- Blue: GUITAR
- Purple (hardest): DOWNFALL
Hint 2: Yellow (easiest) group theme
The yellow group is Words Meaning Good That Sound Bad.
Hint 3: Green group theme
The green group is Martini Specifications.
Hint 4: Blue group theme
The blue group is Things With Strings.
Hint 5: Purple (hardest) group theme
The purple group is Starting With Dog Commands.
Show all four answers
Words Meaning Good That Sound Bad
GNARLY, KILLER, SICK, WICKED
Martini Specifications
DIRTY, DRY, SHAKEN, UP
Things With Strings
GUITAR, MARIONETTE, TASSEL, TENNIS RACKET
Starting With Dog Commands
DOWNFALL, SHAKESPEARE, SITCOM, STAYCATION
About this puzzle
- Edited by Wyna Liu
- Groups are listed from easiest (yellow) to hardest (purple).
Connections deep dive
More about today's puzzle. Everything in this section can include the answer.
Why each word belongs in its group, with a short dictionary meaning where one exists.
Yellow (easiest): Words Meaning Good That Sound Bad
- GNARLY: (slang, dated) Excellent; attractive.
- KILLER: One who or that which kills.
- SICK: (less common in the UK and Ireland) In poor health; ill.
- WICKED: Evil or mischievous by nature; morally reprehensible.
Green: Martini Specifications
- DIRTY: Unclean; covered with or containing unpleasant substances such as dirt or grime.
- DRY: Free from or lacking moisture.
- SHAKEN: In a state of shock or trauma.
- UP: Indicating movement towards or location at a higher place or position.
Blue: Things With Strings
- GUITAR: (music) A stringed musical instrument, of European origin, usually with a fretted fingerboard and six strings, played...
- MARIONETTE: A puppet, usually made of wood, which is animated by the pulling of strings.
- TASSEL: A ball-shaped bunch of plaited or otherwise entangled threads from which at one end protrudes a cord on which the bal...
- TENNIS RACKET: (tennis) A type of bat used to strike the ball in tennis; it has an oval frame with a taut interlaced network of strings
Purple (hardest): Starting With Dog Commands
- DOWNFALL: A precipitous decline in fortune; death or rapid deterioration, as in status or wealth.
- SHAKESPEARE: William Shakespeare, an English playwright and poet of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.
- SITCOM: Situation comedy.
- STAYCATION: (informal) A vacation spent at or close to home.
Play today's Connections at The New York Times
More hints for October 31, 2026
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