Unlock the Secret Puzzle: NYT Connections #809 Clues That Will Challenge Your Mind and Boost Your Brainpower Today!

Ever found yourself staring blankly at today’s New York Times Connections puzzle, wondering if the words are playing hide and seek on purpose? You’re not alone. Puzzle #809 had me scratching my head longer than I care to admit—especially the purple group. It’s like the game knew exactly when to throw in a curveball just to keep things spicy. But hey, that’s the beauty of it, right? These puzzles are designed to tease and challenge us, nudge us into thinking outside the box (or the grid, in this case). If you’re stuck, I’ve been down that road and I’m here to share a few clues and confessions from my own playthrough. Whether you’re a seasoned “connector” or just dipping your toes into this daily brain bender, I promise there’s a nugget of wisdom ahead to help you crack the code—because who doesn’t love a good victory dance after smashing a tricky puzzle? Ready to unravel today’s mystery? Let’s dive in. LEARN MORE

If you’re stuck on today’s New York Times Connections word game, I’ve got you covered. Since I’ve already solved it, I’ll share some hints (and spoilers if you want them) to help you get through Thursday’s puzzle: #809. Don’t feel bad for taking a peek — these puzzles are designed to keep you guessing.

Since we’re in this together, I’ll share how I did each day. This one stumped me after I solved green and yellow. However, I was able to finally solve blue without any mistakes. I don’t think I would’ve figured out purple without finishing the other groups first. I’ll be honest, it was pretty creative.

If you’re new to NYT Connections, we’ve got some tips to help you along the way. Also, check out today’s Wordle hints and answer.

How to play NYT Connections

NYT Connections is a surprisingly difficult word game and if you play, you’re now considered a “connector.” There are 16 words presented in a four-by-four grid and your goal is to match four words into their respective color-coded groups (yellow, green, blue, purple). Yellow is the easiest to guess while purple is the hardest.

Your job is to find out how the four words are connected to a specific group. For instance, in one recent puzzle, the blue group hint was “related to buying a home” and the words were appraisal, escrow, insurance and mortgage.

If you make a mistake when you submit, that’s okay. You get four guesses before the game is over and the answers are revealed. You can also click on the lightbulb icon in the game to get some hints, but we’ll also provide those here.

If you find yourself obsessed with this game after completing just one puzzle, I’ve got bad news for you. You can only play once a day. The timer resets each night at midnight.

Tips for playing NYT Connections

I only recently started playing Connections, but here are some tips I’ve found useful along the way.

1. When you get an answer wrong, pay attention to the text that appears at the top of the puzzle. “One away” means you only got one word wrong. Analyze each word to find one that might fit better in another group and try a new word.

2. If you’re stuck, shuffle the board. You can shuffle as many times as you’d like to help you see some different word combinations.

3. Try to find the easy yellow group words first. Those words usually stick out because they have so much in common — they’re often synonyms of one another. But be wary of the trick words that could fit into multiple categories.

4. Stumped? Come back to the puzzle later with a fresher mind. Trying to solve a difficult puzzle without “sleeping” on it might result in too many mistakes.

Today’s NYT Connections hints

Check out these hints if you’re having a hard time grouping them together.

I’ll give you my own hints:

Yellow group: Where you could get stuck

Green group: What you need to make a certain caffeinated beverage (not coffee)

Blue group: Not soft items

Purple group: What you use to type on a computer

Here’s one word from each group:

Yellow group hint word: Snare

Green group hint word: Kettle

Blue group hint word: Nails

Purple group hint word: Makeshift

Okay, on to the official group names for a bigger hint. If you don’t want to know what those are, then stop scrolling.

NYT Connections group names

Here are the group names for today’s puzzle.

Yellow group: Places to get trapped

Green group: Used for tea

Blue group: Associated with hardness

Purple group: Ending with keyboard keys

Warning, spoilers ahead! If you scroll past this, the answers are right below.

Final warning! Last chance to go back and finish the game.

Today’s NYT Connections answers (spoilers)

Here are the Connections groups and the words that go with them.

Yellow group: Places to get trapped (net, snare, tangle, web)

Green group: Used for tea (cup, kettle, teabag, water)

Blue group: Associated with hardness (diamond, nails, rock, steel)

Purple group: Ending with keyboard keys (cantab, cyberspace, icecaps, makeshift)

My results today

The yellow and green groups were easy enough today, but it took me a bit to figure out blue. When I saw those words, I had a feeling the category had something to do with hardness, but I second-guessed myself at first because it seemed too easy to be blue (true?). “Cantab” really threw me off.

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Thanks for reading! Share how you did today in the comments.