NYT Connections #1045
Hints, category titles, and full answers for Tuesday, April 21, 2026
Connections Hint #1045 — April 21, 2026
Connections Walkthrough — April 21, 2026
A breakdown of every category from the April 21, 2026 puzzle, the trap words designed to fool players, and what made it tricky.
Group-by-group breakdown (easiest to hardest)
- AMBLE (IN)
You can group MOSEY and STROLL first, then see BREEZE and WALTZ as casual ways to enter.
- BALDERDASH
BALONEY, BILGE, BULL, and BUNK are all punchy dismissals of something untrue.
- KINDS OF BAGS
CROSSBODY and MESSENGER point to carry styles, helping you place HOBO and SADDLE with purses.
- STARTS OF ONE-WORD JAMES BOND MOVIE TITLES
After the others, GOLD, MOON, OCTOPUS, and THUNDER reveal openings of single-word Bond films.
The trap words that fool most players
Words placed in this puzzle to make one category look like another.
- HOBOlooks like · AMBLE (IN)actually · KINDS OF BAGS
A hobo may wander, but here you want the name of a slouchy purse style.
- MOONlooks like · AMBLE (IN)actually · STARTS OF ONE-WORD JAMES BOND MOVIE TITLES
Moonwalk suggests movement, but this clue needs the opening of a 007 title.
- BREEZElooks like · BALDERDASHactually · AMBLE (IN)
Shooting the breeze suggests idle talk, but this word can mean enter casually.
What makes this puzzle clever
The purple group uses only the beginnings, not full movie titles, so familiar Bond fragments may look oddly incomplete.
About this puzzle
This is the complete solution to NYT Connections puzzle #1045, originally published on Tuesday, April 21, 2026. The four categories ranged from AMBLE (IN) (the easiest, yellow group) through STARTS OF ONE-WORD JAMES BOND MOVIE TITLES (the trickiest, purple group, which usually involves wordplay or hidden patterns).
You can browse our complete Connections archive for every past puzzle since the game launched in June 2023, or jump to today's puzzle for the latest hints.