NYT Connections — October 8, 2026
Hints — one at a time
Hint 1 of 5
Today's board moves from verbs meaning to obey or comply with rules, to words meaning to surpass something, to groups of things that traditionally come in sets of three, and finally to words that end in the surname of an actor named Tom.
Hint 2 of 5
Yellow (easiest): each of these means to pay attention to and follow a rule.
Hint 3 of 5
Green: each of these means to do better than or surpass something else.
Hint 4 of 5
Blue: each of these traditionally comes in a set of three — think baseball, genies, or a trio of comedians.
Hint 5 of 5
Purple (hardest): each of these ends with the surname of a famous actor named Tom — Cruise, Hardy, Holland, or Hanks.
The answer — spoilers!
Reveal the full answer
Follows, As Rules
HEEDS · MINDS · REGARDS · RESPECTS
Outdo
BEST · ECLIPSE · SURPASS · TOP
Things That Come In Threes
CHEERS · STOOGES · STRIKES · WISHES
Ending In Actors Named Tom
AUTOCRUISE · FOOLHARDY · MULHOLLAND · THANKS
This puzzle by the numbers
- Ending In Actors Named Tom
- AUTOCRUISE
Counted from our own archive of NYT Connections answers — not published anywhere else.
