Need help with NYT Connections #1207? Here are spoiler-free hints and answers for September 30, 2026.
NYT Connections hints for September 30
- Yellow: Think Wall Street. These are all financial instruments or assets that investors can buy, sell or trade.
- Green: Think about things you physically shake to make them work, mix their contents or produce a sound.
- Blue: Think crime, mobsters and the big screen. Each word is the title of a well-known gangster movie.
- Purple: Look at the beginning of each word. The first few letters match familiar abbreviations for months of the year.
Main trap: Today’s grid contains several words that may make movie fans think immediately of the James Bond franchise. That connection is largely a distraction. The actual groups split those words across very different themes, so avoid committing too early to an obvious pop-culture link.
Blue clue: BUGSY and SCARFACE are strong anchors. Both are unmistakably associated with gangster films, so look for two more movie titles that belong beside them.
Purple clue: DECENT, NOVELTY, OCTOPUSSY and SEPTUM may appear unrelated by meaning. Focus instead on their opening letters: DEC, NOV, OCT and SEPT point toward calendar month abbreviations.
Today’s NYT Connections answers
Reveal the Yellow Group
Category: Securities
Answers: BOND, FUTURE, OPTION, STOCK
All four are financial instruments or securities associated with investing and trading. A STOCK represents ownership in a company, while a BOND is generally a form of debt investment. FUTURES and OPTIONS are contracts whose values are tied to underlying assets or markets.
Reveal the Green Group
Category: Things that are shaken
Answers: ETCH-A-SKETCH, MARTINI, SPRAY PAINT, TAMBOURINE
Each of these is commonly shaken. An ETCH-A-SKETCH can be shaken to erase its screen, a MARTINI may be prepared by shaking its ingredients, a can of SPRAY PAINT is shaken before use, and a TAMBOURINE is shaken to produce its distinctive sound.
The phrase “shaken, not stirred” may also bring James Bond to mind, which helps explain one of today’s strongest red herrings.
Reveal the Blue Group
Category: Gangster movies
Answers: BUGSY, CASINO, DONNIE BRASCO, SCARFACE
All four are titles of crime or gangster movies. Bugsy, Casino, Donnie Brasco and Scarface are each strongly associated with organized crime, mob figures or the criminal underworld.
BUGSY and SCARFACE are especially useful starting points because their gangster-film connection is relatively direct. Once that theme becomes clear, CASINO and DONNIE BRASCO complete the group.
Reveal the Purple Group
Category: Starting with month abbreviations
Answers: DECENT, NOVELTY, OCTOPUSSY, SEPTUM
Each word begins with letters used as an abbreviation or shortened form of a month: DECENT begins with DEC for December, NOVELTY begins with NOV for November, OCTOPUSSY begins with OCT for October and SEPTUM begins with SEPT for September.
This is today’s wordplay-heavy group because the connection comes from the beginnings of the words rather than their definitions. Recognizing the month abbreviations is the key to separating these four from the other tempting themes in the grid.
Players can attempt the official daily puzzle and check their results on the New York Times Connections page.
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