The NYT Connections puzzle, a popular daily word game from The New York Times, challenges players to find hidden connections between words and group them into sets of four. Developed by The New York Times, the puzzle launched for PC on June 12, 2023, during its beta phase. It has quickly become NYT’s second-most-played game, following Wordle. This article provides hints and answers to the September 11, 2025, puzzle to aid players.
Connections tests vocabulary and word knowledge. Created by Wyna Liu, associate puzzle editor at The New York Times, the game presents players with 16 random words, which they must sort into categories. Players can choose from three difficulty levels: Easy, Medium, and Hard. The game encourages vocabulary improvement and brain stimulation. Successes and failures are commonly shared on social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter).
Hints for the September 11, 2025, puzzle include: Yellow – Words for small marks or surface damage; Green – Terms for something extremely large or massive; Blue – Actions that are impolite or disrespectful; Purple – Key spots or markings used in the game. The puzzle categories are: Yellow – BLEMISH; Green – BEHEMOTH; Blue – RUDE THINGS TO DO; Purple – ON A BASEBALL FIELD. Answers for September 11, 2025, are: Yellow – DENT, DING, MAR, SCRATCH; Green – COLOSSUS, MAMMOTH, WHALE, WHOPPER; Blue – POINT, SNICKER, STARE, WHISPER; Purple – BASE, BOX, MOUND, PLATE.
To play, players are given a grid of words, and their goal is to find the hidden connections. Strategies involve considering synonyms, antonyms, and word families. The game offers hints to assist players. Additionally, players can track their daily streaks, monitor overall progress, and challenge others. A new puzzle is released every day at midnight on the NYT website or app. Players organize 16 words into four groups of four based on the identified connections. Players must be cautious of words that might fit into multiple categories. Each group is color-coded, with yellow typically being the easiest, blue and green being in the middle, and purple being the most difficult. Incorrect guesses result in a lost life, and four mistakes lead to the game’s end.