The NYT Connections puzzle is a daily word game by The New York Times, designed to improve vocabulary through a fun word-association challenge. Players must group words into sets of four based on their connections. Introduced on June 12, 2023, during its beta phase, the game has quickly grown in popularity and now ranks as the second-most-played game on the NYT platform, after Wordle. This article offers guidance for solving the puzzle for August 28, 2025.
NYT Connections, created by Wyna Liu, tests players’ ability to categorize 16 words into different groups. The game offers varied difficulty levels to keep players engaged. The puzzle is popular, with users sharing their experiences on platforms like X (formerly Twitter).
Here are the hints for the August 28, 2025, puzzle:
* **Yellow** – Things used to catch or ensnare.
* **Green** – Common items associated with making or drinking tea.
* **Blue** – Objects or substances known for being hard or solid.
* **Purple** – Words or terms that conclude with names of keys on a keyboard.
The categories for today’s puzzle are:
* Yellow – PLACES TO GET TRAPPED
* Green – USED FOR TEA
* Blue – ASSOCIATED WITH HARDNESS
* Purple – ENDING WITH KEYBOARD KEYS
The answers to the August 28, 2025, puzzle are:
* **Yellow** – PLACES TO GET TRAPPED: NET, SNARE, TANGLE, WEB
* **Green** – USED FOR TEA: CUP. KETTLE, TEABAG, WATER
* **Blue** – ASSOCIATED WITH HARDNESS: DIAMOND, NAILS, ROCK, STEEL
* **Purple** – ENDING WITH KEYBOARD KEYS: CANTAB, CYBERSPACE, ICECAPS, MAKESHIFT
To play Connections, players must find the hidden relationships between words within a grid. This involves leveraging vocabulary, including synonyms and antonyms. The game provides hints. Players can track their progress and challenge friends. The game presents a new puzzle daily at midnight. The goal is to organize a grid of 16 words into four groups of four based on common traits. The puzzle features words that might fit into more than one category, requiring careful consideration. Each group is color-coded, with the yellow group being generally the easiest, blue and green being of moderate difficulty, and the purple group being the most challenging due to wordplay. Incorrect guesses lead to the loss of a life, and four mistakes result in game over.