NYT Connections #1049
Hints, category titles, and full answers for Saturday, April 25, 2026
Connections Hint #1049 — April 25, 2026
Connections Walkthrough — April 25, 2026
A breakdown of every category from the April 25, 2026 puzzle, the trap words designed to fool players, and what made it tricky.
Group-by-group breakdown (easiest to hardest)
- BODY COVERINGS
You can group ENAMEL, HAIR, NAIL, and SKIN as protective natural surfaces.
- OLD TIMEY SLANG FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT
You can spot the noir-police vocabulary in COPPER, DICK, FLATFOOT, and GUMSHOE.
- MASSES, IN IDIOMS
You can hear idioms about being lost among many: CROWD, HAYSTACK, MILLION, and OCEAN.
- STARTING WITH SYNONYMS FOR "THROW"
You need to split the longer entries and notice their opening words all mean to toss.
What makes this puzzle clever
The purple group hides its pattern at the front of multi-word entries, while the green group depends on implied idioms rather than standalone meanings.
About this puzzle
This is the complete solution to NYT Connections puzzle #1049, originally published on Saturday, April 25, 2026. The four categories ranged from BODY COVERINGS (the easiest, yellow group) through STARTING WITH SYNONYMS FOR "THROW" (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.