Crack the Code: NYT Connections #817 Today’s Puzzle Holds a Surprising Twist You Can’t Miss!

Ever found yourself staring at the New York Times Connections word game, scratching your head, thinking, “Did I just walk into a linguistic cage match?” Yeah, me too. Friday’s puzzle #817 wasn’t just a walk in the park—it was a full-on mental marathon. I was teetering on the edge of one last guess before unlocking the elusive blue group, and let me tell you, the struggle was real. If you’re battling the same beast and feeling like giving up, don’t sweat it. These puzzles are designed to toy with your brain, twist your thoughts, and keep you coming back for more. Whether you’re a seasoned “connector” or dipping your toes in for the first time, I’ve got some battle-tested tips, personal trial-and-error tales, and yes—spoilers—ready to arm you for the fight. Ready to turn that frustration into victory? Let’s dive in. LEARN MORE

Need some help with today’s New York Times Connections word game? It was pretty tough for me and I barely solved it. I’ll share some hints (and spoilers if you want them) to help you get through Friday’s puzzle: #817. 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. I thought I’d never solve this puzzle — too many tricky words. I was down to one guess left when I finally solved blue.

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: How you’d describe a flavor

Green group: Not in a relationship

Blue group: Not female

Purple group: Related to China

Here’s one word from each group:

Yellow group hint word: Punch

Green group hint word: Single

Blue group hint word: Jack

Purple group hint word: Song

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: Piquancy

Green group: Available

Blue group: Male animals

Purple group: Chinese dynasties

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: Piquancy (kick, punch, zest, zing)

Green group: Available (free, single, solo, stag)

Blue group: Male animals (billy, buck, jack, ram)

Purple group: Chinese dynasties (Han, Ming, Song, Tang)

My results today

I for sure thought “tang” was part of the yellow group today but I was clearly wrong. I also thought the green group was somehow related to “one” at first, but I couldn’t find enough words for it to work. I tried male names for blue… I guess I wasn’t too far off. Stag also would’ve fit in the blue category.

🟩🟩🟩🟩

🟪🟦🟪🟦

🟨🟪🟨🟨

🟨🟨🟨🟨

🟦🟦🟪🟪

🟦🟦🟦🟦

🟪🟪🟪🟪

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