October 23, 2026#1230archive

NYT Connections — October 23, 2026

Hints — one at a time

Hint 1 of 5

Today's board moves from words meaning honest and straightforward, to things you add to a computer to make it work better, to physics quantities related to how power is calculated, and finally to words that precede "Tap."

Hint 2 of 5

Yellow (easiest): each of these means being honest, straightforward, or outspoken.

Hint 3 of 5

Green: each of these is something you might install or update on a computer.

Hint 4 of 5

Blue: each of these is a quantity that appears in a physics formula for calculating power.

Hint 5 of 5

Purple (hardest): each of these precedes the word "Tap" — Double Tap, Love Tap, Phone Tap, Spinal Tap.

The answer — spoilers!

Reveal the full answer

yellow
Forthright
DIRECT · FRANK · OPEN · VOCAL
green
Things You Install On A Computer
DRIVER · EXTENSION · PLUGIN · UPDATE
blue
Quantities In A Formula For Power
DISTANCE · FORCE · POWER · TIME
purple
___ Tap
DOUBLE · LOVE · PHONE · SPINAL

This puzzle by the numbers

Hardest group (purple): ___ Tap
Longest word on the board: EXTENSION

Counted from our own archive of NYT Connections answers — not published anywhere else.

A solved Connections-style board: sixteen word tiles sorted into four coloured rows of four — fruits, gemstones, instruments and planets — A solved Connections grid: four groups of four, one colour each. Example board, not today’s puzzle.