NYT Connections and Strands Get October 2 Editions as Quordle Reaches Game 1,712

In Connections No. 1209, players were given 16 words, among them LITTLE, REAL ESTATE, COMMON, RING, INDEX, FUND, BANKROLL, RIB, STANDARD, MIDDLE, STOCK, SUPPORT, BACK, NUMBER, ROUTINE and TIMER. The four groups resolved to FINANCE, made up of BACK, BANKROLL, FUND and SUPPORT; FINGERS, containing INDEX, LITTLE, MIDDLE and RING; CUSTOMARY, with COMMON, ROUTINE, STANDARD and STOCK; and words preceded by PRIME, namely NUMBER, REAL ESTATE, RIB and TIME. TechRadar's solver rated the puzzle easy and finished with a perfect score, but noted that STOCK, INDEX and FUND all pointed toward financial trading and briefly worked as a red herring.

Strands No. 943 carried the theme "On the sly." Its answers were SHIFTY, COVERT, DEVIOUS, STEALTHY and FURTIVE, with SNEAKINGAROUND as the spangram. TechRadar reported the spangram contains 14 letters and touches the left side of the board at the fifth and eighth rows. The puzzle's clue words were SKINT, FISH, NEEDS, SAVE, GOAT and NEAT. TechRadar rated the puzzle hard; its solver turned to one in-game hint after finding SHIFTY.

Quordle No. 1712 produced the answers IVORY, SADLY, ANGEL and LLAMA. The pre-reveal hints stated that the four solutions together contain four different standard vowels, that one answer has a repeated letter, that none of Q, Z, X or J appears, and that no two answers begin with the same letter; the opening letters were I, S, A and L. TechRadar's solver wrote that LLAMA took considerable experimentation, partly because no common two-letter combinations remained, and noted the puzzle was doubly unusual for its double-L start. The separate Quordle Daily Sequence for the same day returned MOUSE, EVICT, WAXEN and LUSTY.

The three games sit at different points in the daily word-puzzle market. Strands followed Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections into the New York Times games lineup and can be played free on the NYT Games site for desktop and mobile; Connections allows up to four mistakes before a round ends and grades its four groups by difficulty, with green the easiest and purple the hardest. Quordle launched as one of the first Wordle alternatives and has now run for more than 1,500 puzzles.

TechRadar also listed the previous day's solutions. Connections No. 1208 grouped PUT, dress-shirt measurements, 2000s indie rock bands preceded by "The," and the starts of New York Times print puzzles. Strands No. 942 used the spangram BEYONDREPAIR, and Quordle No. 1711 returned NAVEL, SHEER, BIRTH and TACKY.

Editor's Summary

The October 2, 2026 editions of Connections, Strands and Quordle are now live, with Connections No. 1209 covering finance, fingers, customary terms and "prime" compounds, Strands No. 943 built around stealth-related words, and Quordle No. 1712 ending in LLAMA. TechRadar rated Connections easy and Strands hard, and flagged a financial red herring in Connections. The puzzles continue the daily release pattern that keeps word-game players returning to the New York Times Games site and to Quordle.