NYT Connections Hints Today (#1025): Clues and Answers for April 1, 2026

The NYT Connections puzzle for March 31, 2026 (#1024) is live! Today’s grid is full of traps — words that scream “workout routine” but belong to completely different categories. Here are hints and full answers.

Today’s Connections Hints (March 31, 2026 — #1024)

• 🟡 Yellow: Think about words meaning “not enough of something”
• 🟢 Green: Think about things you’d find on a sailing vessel — the old-fashioned, swashbuckling kind
• 🔵 Blue: Think about styles of a very specific type of undergarment
• 🟣 Purple: This one’s tricky — look at the first word of each two-word phrase and think small and young

Today’s Connections Answers (March 31, 2026 — #1024)

🟡 Yellow — SHORTAGE

ABSENCE, CRUNCH, DEFICIT, PINCH

All four words can mean a lack or scarcity of something. A “budget crunch” and a “salt pinch” both capture that sense of not having quite enough — though CRUNCH doubles as a fitness move, which is exactly the trap the puzzle setters laid.

🟢 Green — PARTS OF A PIRATE SHIP

CANNON, CROW’S NEST, JOLLY ROGER, PLANK

Classic pirate ship anatomy. The JOLLY ROGER is the skull-and-crossbones flag, the CROW’S NEST is the lookout perch high on the mast, and walking the PLANK is every pirate movie’s go-to threat — alongside the CANNON on deck.

🔵 Blue — KINDS OF BRAS

PLUNGE, PUSH-UP, SPORTS, WIRELESS

Four bra styles. PUSH-UP and PLUNGE both sound like they belong with CRUNCH and PLANK in an exercise group — that’s the clever misdirection. SPORTS is the most obvious, but it had to compete with “exercise” associations too.

🟣 Purple — STARTING WITH BABY ANIMALS

CALF RAISE, CHICK FLICK, FRY COOK, KIT KAT

The hidden link: the first word of each phrase is a baby animal. A CALF is a baby cow, a CHICK is a baby bird, FRY are baby fish, and a KIT is a baby cat (or rabbit). KIT KAT is the candy brand, CHICK FLICK is the film genre, FRY COOK is a diner staple — and together they make one of the sneakiest Purple categories in recent memory.

My Take on Today’s Connections #1024

This was a genuinely tricky puzzle — one of the meaner ones this month. The exercise red herring (CRUNCH, PLANK, PUSH-UP, CALF RAISE all look like a gym routine at first glance) was expertly laid, and most players probably started there before getting frustrated. The Purple group is the real star though: spotting baby animals hiding inside KIT KAT and FRY COOK requires a lateral leap that feels deeply satisfying once it clicks.