Today’s NYT Connections leans playful up top and sneaky at the edges, with one set built from cheerful adjectives and another that hides in plain sight behind a common two-word phrase. Below you’ll find spoiler-safe group hints for October 23, followed by the complete categories and word sets. We also recap October 22 (Puzzle #864) so you can check streaks or see what tripped people up yesterday.
NYT Connections hints for October 23, 2025 (no spoilers)
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Yellow — mood check: Words you might say when everything’s going just fine.
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Green — payoff terms: Labels tied to winnings, pots, and prizes.
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Blue — podium gear: Objects you need in specific sports to compete for gold.
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Purple — two-word phrase: Add a short rhyming word to make “___ bag.”
Trap watch:
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BIRDIE looks like a mood word but isn’t here—think shuttlecock.
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SWAG can read like “feeling cool,” yet it belongs with winnings or bags depending on context; today it’s not about mood.
NYT Connections answers and categories for October 23 (Puzzle #865)
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YELLOW — PEACHY: DANDY, DUCKY, FINE, SWELL
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GREEN — WINNINGS: KITTY, POT, PRIZE, PURSE
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BLUE — PIECES OF OLYMPIC SPORTS EQUIPMENT: BALL, BIRDIE, PUCK, STONE
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PURPLE — ___ BAG: DOGGY, GO, MIXED, SWAG
Why it plays tricky: the yellow group mixes older-fashioned slang (ducky, dandy, swell) with a modern all-purpose fine. Meanwhile purple’s “___ bag” asks you to hear the rhyme—doggy bag, go-bag, mixed bag, swag bag—rather than chase meanings.
Yesterday’s NYT Connections, October 22, 2025 (Puzzle #864)
Missed it or want to compare difficulty? Here’s the full breakdown from Wednesday:
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YELLOW — UTILITIES: ELECTRIC, GAS, TELEPHONE, WATER
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GREEN — ADAPT TO FIT ONE’S NEEDS: FASHION, MOLD, SHAPE, TAILOR
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BLUE — KINDS OF ANTS: ARMY, CARPENTER, FIRE, PHARAOH
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PURPLE — COPY____: CAT, PASTA, RIGHT, WRITER
Common pitfalls: RIGHT and WRITER often lure solvers into general wordplay; pairing them with COPY unlocks the set. And while PHARAOH looks like a curveball, it’s a genuine ant—just not the one most people think of first.
Side-by-side snapshot (Oct 22 → Oct 23)
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Meta feel: Wednesday emphasized categories you can picture (bills, trades, insects). Thursday pivots to tone (peachy) and wordplay (___ bag), which raises the risk of near-misses.
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Blue sets: Both days reward domain knowledge—entomology yesterday, equipment-specific sports today (curling’s STONE and badminton’s BIRDIE).
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Purple difficulty: Yesterday’s “COPY____” invited prefix play; today’s uses a rhyme to complete a common two-word phrase.
Quick strategy for streak safety
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Sort by part of speech first. Group adjectives vs. nouns to surface the “mood words” quickly.
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Hunt the meta prompt. If a clue feels like “add a word,” test short, rhymable add-ons (bag, man, up, out) against multiple tiles.
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Confirm with two anchors. Don’t submit a set unless you can justify at least two pairings that clearly fit the same label.
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Save the weird one. Oddballs like PHARAOH or STONE often belong to the knowledge-heavy blue or the misdirection-heavy purple—park them until the end.
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Track false friends. Words such as SWAG or BIRDIE flex across meanings; if a pairing feels forced, it probably is.
What to expect next
Recent puzzles have alternated between concrete categories (objects, professions, animals) and language tricks (prefix/suffix, rhyme-to-phrase). Based on that cadence, don’t be surprised if the next few days blend one technical set (science/sport), one real-world set (brands, tools, places), and two wordplay-oriented groups. Keep notes on common templates—“___ UP,” “things with handles,” plural-only sets—so you can pounce when they reappear.
Happy sorting—and if today’s purple cost you a guess or two, you’re in good company.
