Waking up and opening the New York Times Games app has basically become a secular ritual for millions of us. You've got your coffee. You've got five minutes before the kids wake up or the first meeting starts. And then you see it—the grid.
Sometimes, the Connections hints May 25 puzzle feels like a gift. Other days, it feels like Wyna Liu is personally trying to ruin your morning. It’s that specific brand of frustration where you know the words are related, but your brain keeps hitting a wall.
Connections isn't just about vocabulary. Honestly, it’s about lateral thinking and avoiding the "red herrings" the editors love to plant. If you’re looking at the board for May 25 and seeing nothing but a jumble, don't worry. We've all been there.
Why the Connections hints May 25 grid is so tricky
The thing about the May 25 puzzle is how it plays with double meanings. You might see a word that fits perfectly into a category about "money," only to realize three minutes later that it actually belongs in a group about "types of fabric." That’s the sting.
The New York Times doesn't just pick random words. They curate them to mislead you.
When you start your game, look for the overlaps first. If you see five words that could fit a category, stop. Do not click. That fifth word is the trap. You need to find the "orphans"—the words that only have one possible home.
Breaking down the May 25 categories
Let's look at the logic behind today's groupings. Often, the yellow category is the most straightforward, usually involving synonyms or direct examples of a thing. But as you move toward the purple category, things get weird. Purple is almost always about wordplay, prefixes, or "fill-in-the-blank" style riddles.
For the Connections hints May 25 set, pay close attention to words that might describe physical objects versus abstract concepts.
👉 See also: Why 4 in a row online 2 player Games Still Hook Us After 50 Years
Sometimes a word like "TIE" could be a necktie, a draw in a sports game, or something you do with a rope. The game counts on you picking the most obvious one and sticking to it like glue, even when it’s wrong.
Understanding the "Yellow" Grouping
The easiest group today focuses on things you might find in a specific professional setting. Think about the tools of a trade. If you’re looking at the grid and seeing words that relate to office supplies or perhaps basic actions, you're on the right track.
It’s the "straight A" student of the puzzle. No tricks here, just plain English.
The Blue and Green Middle Ground
This is where people usually lose their first couple of lives. Green and Blue often swap places in terms of difficulty.
For the May 25 puzzle, one of these groups involves verbs. Specifically, verbs that describe a way of moving or a way of communicating. Keep an eye out for words that feel a bit more "active."
The other group? It’s thematic. It might involve a specific industry—maybe film, maybe music, or perhaps something more domestic like cooking. If you see a word that feels "fancy," it probably belongs in the blue group.
The Infamous Purple Category
Purple is the final boss.
✨ Don't miss: Lust Academy Season 1: Why This Visual Novel Actually Works
Usually, by the time you get to purple, you only have four words left, so you win by default. But if you're trying to actually solve it, think about what comes before or after the word.
For May 25, the purple category is a classic "missing word" scenario. If you add a specific word to the end of these four items, do they all make sense?
Real strategies for daily play
Stop guessing.
I mean it. If you have three words and you're "pretty sure" about the fourth, wait. Look at the remaining twelve words. Does that fourth word you're about to use actually belong somewhere else?
A great trick is to look at the words and say them out loud. Sometimes your ears catch a phonetic connection that your eyes missed on the screen.
- Shuffle the board. Seriously. The NYT app defaults to a specific layout designed to put "fake" pairs next to each other. Hit that shuffle button until the visual patterns break.
- Walk away for ten minutes. Your brain processes information in the background (diffuse mode thinking). You’ll come back and the answer will jump out at you.
- Identify the parts of speech. Are they all nouns? If one is a verb and the others are nouns, that verb is likely part of a different set.
Common misconceptions about Connections
People think the game is testing your IQ. It isn't. It’s testing your flexibility.
I’ve seen PhDs fail the yellow category because they were looking for a complex scientific connection when the answer was just "parts of a shoe." Conversely, I've seen kids nail the purple category because they didn't have the "curse of knowledge" holding them back.
🔗 Read more: OG John Wick Skin: Why Everyone Still Calls The Reaper by the Wrong Name
The Connections hints May 25 puzzle specifically rewards those who can see a word and immediately forget its most common definition.
How to use these hints without spoiling the fun
If you just want a nudge, look at the colors.
Yellow is "Daily Basics."
Green is "Common Themes."
Blue is "Specific Knowledge."
Purple is "Word Nerd Stuff."
If you are stuck on the May 25 puzzle, try to find the "Yellow" group first to clear the board. Once four words are gone, the remaining twelve are much easier to parse.
Moving forward with your streak
Maintaining a streak in Connections is harder than Wordle because there’s no "standard" logic. Every day is a new set of rules.
For the Connections hints May 25 challenge, the biggest takeaway is to watch out for words that sound like other words. Homophones are a favorite weapon of the NYT puzzles team.
The game is a marathon, not a sprint. If you lose today, it's just data for tomorrow. You start to learn the "voice" of the puzzle creator.
Actionable steps for your next game
First, identify any words that have multiple meanings and write those meanings down mentally. Second, look for groups of five and deliberately try to find which one doesn't fit the other four. Third, if you're down to your last mistake, stop playing and come back three hours later. The "fresh eyes" phenomenon is real and it will save your streak.
Check the categories one last time before you submit. If the connection feels too "easy" for a blue or purple group, it's probably a yellow group decoy.