Yesterday's NYT Connections Hints and Answers - April 21, 2026

Connections #1045 from Tuesday, April 21 delivered a mix of light wordplay and Bond film trivia. Purple was the most demanding category: GOLD, MOON, OCTOPUS, and THUNDER are the opening syllables of four one-word James Bond film titles (Goldfinger, Moonraker, Octopussy, Thunderball), and without a strong Bond vocabulary the group required pure elimination. Yellow (Amble In) was the most approachable, though WALTZ tempts a dancing frame before the casual-entrance reading clicks.

Yesterday’s Yellow Group Answer: April 21, 2026

The Yellow category was Amble In: BREEZE, MOSEY, STROLL, and WALTZ. Each word describes a relaxed, unhurried way to enter a space: you can breeze in, mosey in, stroll in, or waltz in. WALTZ is the trickiest; the dancing sense fires first, and it takes a beat to arrive at the casual-entrance reading. BREEZE leans toward weather before movement. Once you frame all four as 'to ___ in' synonyms for an unhurried entrance, the group clicks cleanly.

Yesterday’s Green Group Answer: April 21, 2026

The Green category was Balderdash: BALONEY, BILGE, BULL, and BUNK. Four informal words for nonsense or rubbish. BILGE is the least common in this sense; it primarily refers to the lowest point inside a ship's hull, and its 'nonsense' reading skews British English. BULL and BUNK are familiar enough across dialects, and BALONEY covers the deli-meat sense before the slang sense. If you landed on 'informal words for rubbish' as the theme early, this group resolved fast.

Yesterday’s Blue Group Answer: April 21, 2026

The Blue category was Kinds of Bags: CROSSBODY, HOBO, MESSENGER, and SADDLE. Four bag styles that all double as other things. HOBO calls up a wanderer before a bag silhouette. MESSENGER brings courier to mind before the shoulder-slung bag. SADDLE belongs to a horse before a handbag. CROSSBODY is the most bag-specific of the four. The connecting thread: all four are established categories in fashion retail, each naming a distinct bag silhouette sold under that exact name.