Connections · Hints and answers

Connections #1,239 hints and answers for Sunday, November 1, 2026

Edited by Wyna Liu · Groups listed easiest to hardest: yellow, green, blue, purple

Connections #1,239 opens at the dentist and ends in wordplay: four kinds of teeth, four kinds of love, four words for a devoted enthusiast, and a purple group built by changing the first letter of four words for "soaked." Watch LOVER - it sounds like it belongs with the love group, but it is an enthusiast here - and CANINE, which is a tooth before it is a dog. For each group below: read the hint first, then show the category name when you want it, then the four words, one group at a time.

Group 1 - Yellow

Hint: all four sit in your mouth: one cuts at the front, one has two pointed cusps, one grinds at the back, and one shares its name with a dog.

KINDS OF TEETH

BICUSPID · CANINE · INCISOR · MOLAR

Group 2 - Green

Hint: each word completes the phrase "___ love": the love between siblings, a young crush, love of oneself, and love that is never returned.

KINDS OF LOVE

BROTHERLY · PUPPY · SELF · UNREQUITED

Group 3 - Blue

Hint: each word names a keen devotee and can attach to the thing they love: a music lover, a news hound, a gearhead, a fiend for crosswords.

ENTHUSIAST

FIEND · HEAD · HOUND · LOVER

Group 4 - Purple

Hint: change the first letter of each word and you get a synonym for "soaked": DOGGY becomes SOGGY, TRIPPING becomes DRIPPING, and the other two follow the same trick with SATURATED and DRENCHED underneath.

SYNONYMS FOR "SOAKED" WITH FIRST LETTER CHANGED

DOGGY · MATURATED · TRENCHED · TRIPPING

Next on the board

Strands →

Theme clue: "For the rest of the day"