What Does GETTY Mean in Connections?

Getty Images and the Getty Museum

GETTY IMAGES is the name of a company that supplies photographs and other visual content. Getty can also refer to the J. Paul Getty Museum, an art museum. These are different references, and that distinction explains the unfamiliar turn in the October 3, 2026 Connections puzzle.

If you recognize Getty Images from photo credits, the complete tile naturally suggests pictures or media. That is a valid reading of the company name. The puzzle can also use GETTY on its own as a museum name.

You do not need to redefine the company as a museum. The wordplay shifts attention from the whole two-word tile to its opening. IMAGES provides the familiar surface reading, while GETTY supplies the alternate reference.

Puzzle explanation — contains spoilers

In Connections #1210, GETTY IMAGES belongs to STARTING WITH U.S. MUSEUMS:

The entries do not have to be museum-related as complete phrases. A food, a verb phrase, a person's name and a company name can each start with a recognizable museum reference. That is the shared rule across the four printed tiles.

What to check when a proper name feels out of place

Try separating the opening word from the rest of the tile. Then check whether the same kind of alternate reference works for four entries. The recognition of GETTY alone is a clue; the full group needs the other three openings to follow the same rule.

For another example from this group, read the BROAD BEAN explanation.