Below: the Melio Connections puzzle for Saturday, October 3, 2026, a progressive hint ladder so you can work toward the solution without spoiling it, and the full color-coded grouping if you want the answer outright.
Heads up: Melio’s Connections grids are independently authored. The answers for Saturday, October 3, 2026 below are the Melio answers, not the NYT ones.
The 16 words
FIREFOX
LEOPARD
LION
EGG
EDGE
CODE
WHIP
GREEN
JAGUAR
SAFARI
JOKE
WHITE
BOAT
TIGER
BIRD
CHROME
Hint ladder
Spoiler warning
Stage 1: letter spread
Today's 16 words are spread across the alphabet. The most common starting letters are L (2×), J (2×), C (2×), E (2×).
Stage 2: yellow theme
The yellow group's theme is "Big cats". That's the easiest grouping; pick the four words that fit and you're a quarter of the way through.
Stage 3: yellow group reveal
The four yellow words are: TIGER, LION, JAGUAR, LEOPARD.
TIGERLIONJAGUARLEOPARD
Stage 4: all four themes
The four categories, in order from easiest to hardest, are: Yellow (easiest): "Big cats" · Green: "Web browsers" · Blue: "Things that can be cracked" · Purple (trickiest): "___ House".
Stage 5: full solution
Below is the full grouping; each row is one category.