NYT Connections #1249 for November 11, 2026 has four color groups and sixteen tiles.
Clues and answers are tucked inside separate closed panels, so you can choose how much help to reveal.
Select a color to see its clue, or use the answer section for the complete solution. Definitions and explanations follow in their own section.
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Connections hints (no spoilers)
Yellow
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Labels for healing practices, traditions and approaches to health care
Green
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Places and surfaces you would encounter during a round of golf
Blue
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Objects that hold air inside them, often to give shape or bounce
Purple
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Each word finishes with letters that read the same backward and forward
Connections answers — November 11, 2026
Yellow Labels for healing practices, traditions and approaches to health care Reveal group Hide group
KINDS OF MEDICINE
- FOLK
- HERBAL
- HOLISTIC
- TRADITIONAL
These four words name broad traditions or styles of medicine. Folk medicine refers to remedies passed down within communities, herbal medicine relies on plants, holistic medicine treats the whole person rather than isolated symptoms, and traditional medicine covers long-established systems of care. Each is a label for a way of approaching treatment, which is what ties the group together.
Read this group’s word explanationsGreen Places and surfaces you would encounter during a round of golf Reveal group Hide group
PARTS OF A GOLF COURSE
- GREEN
- ROUGH
- SAND TRAP
- TEE BOX
These are features of a golf course. The green is the putting surface around the hole, the rough has grass left longer than the fairway, a sand trap is a bunker prepared with sand, and the tee box is the starting area for a hole. Each tile identifies a distinct course feature.
Read this group’s word explanationsBlue Objects that hold air inside them, often to give shape or bounce Reveal group Hide group
THINGS FILLED WITH AIR
- AIR MATTRESS
- BUBBLE
- TIRE
- WHOOPIE CUSHION
Each tile can refer to something containing air. An air mattress is inflated for sleeping, a soap bubble encloses air in a liquid film, a familiar pneumatic tire contains compressed air, and a whoopie cushion releases air noisily when someone sits on it. TIRE uses its air-filled form in this group.
Read this group’s word explanationsPurple Each word finishes with letters that read the same backward and forward Reveal group Hide group
ENDING IN PALINDROMES
- AFTERNOON
- PATOOT
- RHEOSTATS
- SHREDDER
The connection is in the final letters of each word. Afternoon ends in noon, patoot ends in toot, rheostats ends in stats, and shredder ends in redder. Each of those endings is a palindrome, reading identically in both directions. The words themselves are unrelated in meaning, so the link is purely a spelling pattern at the end.
Read this group’s word explanationsWhy these words fit
Read explanations
Full spoilers below: a closer look at every group and the wordplay behind it.
Yellow
KINDS OF MEDICINE
These four words name broad traditions or styles of medicine. Folk medicine refers to remedies passed down within communities, herbal medicine relies on plants, holistic medicine treats the whole person rather than isolated symptoms, and traditional medicine covers long-established systems of care. Each is a label for a way of approaching treatment, which is what ties the group together.
- FOLK
-
Folk medicine means remedies and health knowledge embodied in local customs and lore, often passed down informally within a community.
- HERBAL
-
Herbal medicine uses plant materials for treating illness; the word describes the plant-based approach, not a single remedy.
- HOLISTIC
-
Holistic medicine considers the whole person, including body, mind and circumstances, instead of focusing only on one symptom or organ.
- TRADITIONAL
-
Traditional medicine refers to long-established healing systems and practices, such as those rooted in a culture's history.
Green
PARTS OF A GOLF COURSE
These are features of a golf course. The green is the putting surface around the hole, the rough has grass left longer than the fairway, a sand trap is a bunker prepared with sand, and the tee box is the starting area for a hole. Each tile identifies a distinct course feature.
- GREEN
-
In golf, the green is the closely mown area around the hole where players putt.
- ROUGH
-
The rough is the taller, less manicured grass alongside the fairway, making shots from it harder.
- SAND TRAP
-
A sand trap is the everyday name for a bunker, a specially prepared area of sand. It tests a player's ability to play from sand. Landing there alone adds no automatic penalty stroke.
- TEE BOX
-
The tee box is the marked starting area where a golfer places the ball for the first shot on a hole.
Blue
THINGS FILLED WITH AIR
Each tile can refer to something containing air. An air mattress is inflated for sleeping, a soap bubble encloses air in a liquid film, a familiar pneumatic tire contains compressed air, and a whoopie cushion releases air noisily when someone sits on it. TIRE uses its air-filled form in this group.
- AIR MATTRESS
-
An air mattress is a sleeping pad inflated with air, which gives it thickness and cushioning.
- BUBBLE
-
A bubble is a pocket of air or gas enclosed by a thin film, such as a soap bubble.
- TIRE
-
TIRE uses the familiar pneumatic wheel covering, which contains compressed air. Airless tires also exist, so this category relies on the air-filled kind.
- WHOOPIE CUSHION
-
A whoopie cushion is an air-filled novelty cushion whose valve makes a flatulence-like noise when someone sits on it. WHOOPIE is a recognized alternative spelling of WHOOPEE.
Purple
ENDING IN PALINDROMES
The connection is in the final letters of each word. Afternoon ends in noon, patoot ends in toot, rheostats ends in stats, and shredder ends in redder. Each of those endings is a palindrome, reading identically in both directions. The words themselves are unrelated in meaning, so the link is purely a spelling pattern at the end.
- AFTERNOON
-
Afternoon ends with noon, a palindrome because it reads the same forward and backward.
- PATOOT
-
PATOOT ends with TOOT. Those final four letters read identically forward and backward, which supplies the spelling connection.
- RHEOSTATS
-
RHEOSTATS are variable resistors. For this group, the division RHEO + STATS reveals the final five-letter palindrome, STATS.
- SHREDDER
-
Shredder ends with redder, which reads the same in either direction.
How difficult is this puzzle?
Check whether a proposed connection uses the meaning of the whole tile or a sequence at its end. For the spelling group, isolate the ending and reverse those letters to test the rule on all four entries.
More Connections answers
Frequently asked questions
What are the four groups in Connections #1249?
The yellow group is kinds of medicine: FOLK, HERBAL, HOLISTIC and TRADITIONAL. Green covers parts of a golf course: GREEN, ROUGH, SAND TRAP and TEE BOX. Blue lists things filled with air: AIR MATTRESS, BUBBLE, TIRE and WHOOPIE CUSHION. Purple collects words ending in palindromes: AFTERNOON, PATOOT, RHEOSTATS and SHREDDER.
Why do AFTERNOON, PATOOT, RHEOSTATS and SHREDDER belong together?
Each word ends with a sequence of letters that is a palindrome, meaning it reads the same backward and forward. Afternoon ends in noon, patoot ends in toot, rheostats ends in stats, and shredder ends in redder. The meanings of the words are unrelated; the grouping rests on that shared spelling pattern at the end.
How are GREEN and ROUGH connected to golf?
Both are parts of a golf course. The green is the smooth, closely mown putting surface around the hole, while the rough is the longer grass bordering the fairway. They sit in the green group alongside SAND TRAP and TEE BOX, which are also course features.
What makes a whoopie cushion part of the air group?
A whoopie cushion holds air in a novelty pillow. Sitting on it forces air through a valve and makes a flatulence-like sound. Its air-filled form links it with AIR MATTRESS, BUBBLE and the pneumatic kind of TIRE.
Why does TIRE fit when airless tires also exist?
The puzzle uses the familiar pneumatic tire, which contains compressed air. Airless tires use a different construction. The shared connection applies to the air-filled kind represented by this tile.
What does RHEOSTATS mean, and where is its palindrome?
RHEOSTATS is the plural of RHEOSTAT, a variable resistor. Split the tile as RHEO + STATS. STATS reads the same in both directions, just as NOON, TOOT and REDDER do in the other purple answers.
Sources & further reading
Sources & further reading
- The New York Times — Connections
- American Heritage Dictionary — folk medicine
- American Heritage Dictionary — herbal
- American Heritage Dictionary — holistic
- World Health Organization — traditional medicine
- The R&A — bunkers, Rule 12
- The R&A — putting greens, Rule 13
- American Heritage Dictionary — rough
- American Heritage Dictionary — tee
- American Heritage Dictionary — air mattress
- American Heritage Dictionary — bubble
- American Heritage Dictionary — tire
- Bridgestone — airless and pneumatic tires
- Collins English Dictionary — whoopee cushion
- American Heritage Dictionary — rheostat