Step-by-step hints and answers for Connections #1210, from Saturday, October 3, 2026.
Saturday's board is unusual: every tile is two words, and most are famous names or everyday phrases that seem to have nothing in common. Sorting the people from the objects will not help, because the celebrities are scattered across all four sets. This is a board that rewards patience more than general knowledge, so take your time with each tile before you commit to a guess. Expect a slow start and a quick finish once one set falls.
Open one step at a time. Step three names the group, so stop earlier if you want more of a challenge. New to the game? Read how to play Connections first, or see what the four colors mean.
Most direct
Look at the first word of each tile and think of a room in the house.
Each entry begins with an informal name for a bathroom fixture, one of them a pair of initials.
Starting with terms for "toilet"
Fairly direct
Ignore the first word and think about a night at the theater.
The last word of each entry is the title of a hit Broadway show.
Ending in musicals
Takes some thought
The first word of each tile is somewhere you might spend an afternoon looking at paintings.
Each entry opens with the short name of a well-known American art institution, two in Los Angeles and two in New York.
Starting with U.S. museums
Trickiest
Read the last word of each tile as something from a storybook.
Each entry finishes with a being from myth or legend, from a tiny fairy to a bird reborn from ashes.
Ending in fantasy creatures
Six tiles are the names of famous people, which makes a celebrity group look certain. There is no such group: those six names are spread across all four colors. The food and drink tiles are split up in the same way. Treat every tile as two separate words and ask what either half could mean by itself.
More ways to dodge red herrings: our Connections tips.
Some meanings point toward a group, so they stay hidden until you open them.
This section shows all four groups. Only open it if you're finished or ready to give up.
CAN OPENER, HEAD WAITER, JOHN DENVER, W.C. FIELDS
Can, head, john and W.C. are all informal terms for a toilet, and each one opens its tile.
ELBOW GREASE, FAT CATS, LINDA HAMILTON, SOMETHING WICKED
Grease, Cats, Hamilton and Wicked are all stage musicals, and each one closes its tile.
BROAD BEAN, GETTY IMAGES, MET HALFWAY, WHITNEY HOUSTON
The Broad, the Getty, the Met and the Whitney are all American art museums, and each name starts its tile.
DIET SPRITE, MERV GRIFFIN, NY GIANT, RIVER PHOENIX
Sprite, griffin, giant and phoenix are all creatures of myth and fantasy, and each one ends its tile.
Read the halves, not the whole names. W.C. FIELDS is the quickest way in: W.C. is a word for a toilet, and CAN, HEAD and JOHN open three more tiles the same way. The endings of FAT CATS, ELBOW GREASE, SOMETHING WICKED and LINDA HAMILTON are all stage musicals. GETTY, MET, WHITNEY and BROAD start the museum set, and SPRITE, GRIFFIN, GIANT and PHOENIX close the last four.
Want to get better at spotting groups? Start with our Connections tips.
Answers checked against the official answers by Alan. This puzzle appeared on Saturday, October 3, 2026.
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