TodayHint

Connections October 16, 2026: Hints & Answers (#1325)

edited by Wyna Liu.

Recap

Connections for October 16, 2026, featured groups on surface flaws, landlocked nations, modified European countries, and stylish phrases.

The sixteen tiles

The sixteen tiles as dealt. Reveal a group below to tint and caption its tiles here.

HUNGARYHUNGRYHIPPOCHICKENCHIPCHADCOOLIDGECYRUSSPANMARKLAOSNICKPARAGUAYSMARTIESBULGARISCRATCH

Connections hints, one rung at a time

Six rungs, softest first. The recap above already named the groups, so this ladder is here for anyone replaying the board fresh rather than as a spoiler shield.

  1. Four one-line nudges, one per group

    The softest hint there is.

    Yellow
    Flaws
    Green
    Inland nations
    Blue
    Modified countries
    Purple
    Fashionable starts
  2. What linked each group, described

    Still no titles and no tiles named.

    Yellow group

    Terms used to describe small blemishes or damages

    Green group

    Countries that do not have a coastline along the ocean

    Blue group

    European nations with a letter or letters removed

    Purple group

    Phrases beginning with adjectives that describe style or fashion

  3. Board facts

    Counted off the sixteen printed tiles.

    Sixteen tiles, four groups of four, ordered yellow → green → blue → purple from most to least obvious. Every tile was a single word.

    Tiles
    16 across 4 groups
    Longest tile
    8 characters
    Shortest tile
    4 characters
    Multi-word tiles
    0
    Back to the sixteen tiles
  4. The trap on this board

    Which tiles pulled in two directions.

    Some cards could fit into more than one group, be careful with cards like CHAD or HUNGRY that have multiple possible connections.

  5. The four category titles

    Half the answer.

    Yellow
    SURFACE IMPERFECTIONS
    Green
    LANDLOCKED COUNTRIES
    Blue
    EUROPEAN COUNTRIES MINUS A LETTER
    Purple
    STARTING WITH WORDS FOR "STYLISH"
  6. One tile from each group

    The anchor most people misplaced, matched to its title.

    Yellow — SURFACE IMPERFECTIONS
    SCRATCH
    Green — LANDLOCKED COUNTRIES
    PARAGUAY
    Blue — EUROPEAN COUNTRIES MINUS A LETTER
    SPAN
    Purple — STARTING WITH WORDS FOR "STYLISH"
    SMARTIES
    Open the full groupings

Every Connections group from that board

All four groups, folded. Opening one tints its four tiles above and captions them with the category name.

  • Yellow group · 4 tiles

    SURFACE IMPERFECTIONS

    CHIP, MARK, NICK, SCRATCH. The yellow group, SURFACE IMPERFECTIONS, includes CHIP, MARK, NICK, SCRATCH.

  • Green group · 4 tiles

    LANDLOCKED COUNTRIES

    CHAD, HUNGARY, LAOS, PARAGUAY. The green group, LANDLOCKED COUNTRIES, consists of CHAD, HUNGARY, LAOS, PARAGUAY.

  • Blue group · 4 tiles

    EUROPEAN COUNTRIES MINUS A LETTER

    BULGARI, CYRUS, HUNGRY, SPAN. The blue group, EUROPEAN COUNTRIES MINUS A LETTER, comprises BULGARI, CYRUS, HUNGRY, SPAN.

  • Purple group · 4 tiles

    STARTING WITH WORDS FOR "STYLISH"

    CHICKEN, COOLIDGE, HIPPO, SMARTIES. The purple group, STARTING WITH WORDS FOR "STYLISH", features CHICKEN, COOLIDGE, HIPPO, SMARTIES.

This board by the numbers

Puzzle
(#1325) · Friday, October 16, 2026
Tiles
16 in a 4 × 4 grid
Groups
4, yellow to purple
Multi-word tiles
0
Longest tile
PARAGUAY
Mistakes allowed
4 before the board locked

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