The New York Times published its daily Connections puzzle on Wednesday, September 30, 2026, rolling out puzzle No. 1207 alongside the Sports Edition puzzle No. 737. Both sets of hints and answers are now available for players who've hit their mistake limit or simply want to check their work.
The standard Connections puzzle resets after midnight, so regulars have until the end of the day to finish before the next grid loads.
How the puzzle works
Each Connections grid gives you 16 words to sort into four categories, and you're allowed up to four mistakes before the board locks. The categories are color-coded by difficulty: yellow is the easiest, then green, then blue, and purple is the hardest of the four.
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The format hasn't changed since the game first launched, and that consistency is a big part of why it's stuck. Daily reset, a fixed mistake budget, a difficulty ladder — simple mechanics that keep players coming back.
The Times credits associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu with helping create Connections. Her name shows up on the byline for the main puzzle, and she's been one of the public faces of the game's editorial process since its early days.
What's in the September 30 answers
The solution to Connections No. 1207 breaks down into four categories: "Securities," "Things that are shaken (not stirred)," "Gangster movies," and "Starting with month abbreviations." The mix of finance jargon and pop-culture references is fairly typical for the blue and purple tiers, where the puzzle tends to get abstract.
Over on the Sports Edition side, puzzle No. 737 sorts into "Parts of a Bicycle," "NHL Teams, Informally," "Atlanta Dream Players," and "Field____." That edition runs in association with The Athletic, which the Times owns.
The Sports Edition angle
Connections: Sports Edition is the newer of the two, built specifically around athletic trivia and vocabulary rather than the general-knowledge framing of the flagship puzzle. It's a smaller operation than the main game, but it's been running long enough now to have its own daily regulars.
Both puzzles drop on the same schedule, which means Wednesday's release put two sets of answers into circulation at once. For players who track streaks, it's a double-header day.
The next puzzle in both tracks goes live after midnight, when the current boards reset. If you're still stuck on No. 1207 or No. 737, you've got the rest of the day before the grid clears and a fresh set of 16 words takes its place.
