NYT Connections today, October 23, 2025 (Puzzle #865): fresh hints, full categories, plus the October 22 recap
Today’s NYT Connections leans playful up top and sneaky at the edges, with one set built from cheerful adjectives and another that hides in plain sight behind a common two-word phrase. Below you’ll find spoiler-safe group hints for October 23, followed by the complete categories and word sets. We also recap October 22 (Puzzle #864) so you can check streaks or see what tripped people up yesterday.
NYT Connections hints for October 23, 2025 (no spoilers)
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Yellow — mood check: Words you might say when everything’s going just fine.
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Green — payoff terms: Labels tied to winnings, pots, and prizes.
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Blue — podium gear: Objects you need in specific sports to compete for gold.
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Purple — two-word phrase: Add a short rhyming word to make “___ bag.”
Trap watch:
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BIRDIE looks like a mood word but isn’t here—think shuttlecock.
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SWAG can read like “feeling cool,” yet it belongs with winnings or bags depending on context; today it’s not about mood.
NYT Connections answers and categories for October 23 (Puzzle #865)
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YELLOW — PEACHY: DANDY, DUCKY, FINE, SWELL
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GREEN — WINNINGS: KITTY, POT, PRIZE, PURSE
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BLUE — PIECES OF OLYMPIC SPORTS EQUIPMENT: BALL, BIRDIE, PUCK, STONE
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PURPLE — ___ BAG: DOGGY, GO, MIXED, SWAG
Why it plays tricky: the yellow group mixes older-fashioned slang (ducky, dandy, swell) with a modern all-purpose fine. Meanwhile purple’s “___ bag” asks you to hear the rhyme—doggy bag, go-bag, mixed bag, swag bag—rather than chase meanings.
Yesterday’s NYT Connections, October 22, 2025 (Puzzle #864)
Missed it or want to compare difficulty? Here’s the full breakdown from Wednesday:
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YELLOW — UTILITIES: ELECTRIC, GAS, TELEPHONE, WATER
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GREEN — ADAPT TO FIT ONE’S NEEDS: FASHION, MOLD, SHAPE, TAILOR
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BLUE — KINDS OF ANTS: ARMY, CARPENTER, FIRE, PHARAOH
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PURPLE — COPY____: CAT, PASTA, RIGHT, WRITER
Common pitfalls: RIGHT and WRITER often lure solvers into general wordplay; pairing them with COPY unlocks the set. And while PHARAOH looks like a curveball, it’s a genuine ant—just not the one most people think of first.
Side-by-side snapshot (Oct 22 → Oct 23)
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Meta feel: Wednesday emphasized categories you can picture (bills, trades, insects). Thursday pivots to tone (peachy) and wordplay (___ bag), which raises the risk of near-misses.
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Blue sets: Both days reward domain knowledge—entomology yesterday, equipment-specific sports today (curling’s STONE and badminton’s BIRDIE).
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Purple difficulty: Yesterday’s “COPY____” invited prefix play; today’s uses a rhyme to complete a common two-word phrase.
Quick strategy for streak safety
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Sort by part of speech first. Group adjectives vs. nouns to surface the “mood words” quickly.
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Hunt the meta prompt. If a clue feels like “add a word,” test short, rhymable add-ons (bag, man, up, out) against multiple tiles.
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Confirm with two anchors. Don’t submit a set unless you can justify at least two pairings that clearly fit the same label.
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Save the weird one. Oddballs like PHARAOH or STONE often belong to the knowledge-heavy blue or the misdirection-heavy purple—park them until the end.
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Track false friends. Words such as SWAG or BIRDIE flex across meanings; if a pairing feels forced, it probably is.
What to expect next
Recent puzzles have alternated between concrete categories (objects, professions, animals) and language tricks (prefix/suffix, rhyme-to-phrase). Based on that cadence, don’t be surprised if the next few days blend one technical set (science/sport), one real-world set (brands, tools, places), and two wordplay-oriented groups. Keep notes on common templates—“___ UP,” “things with handles,” plural-only sets—so you can pounce when they reappear.
Happy sorting—and if today’s purple cost you a guess or two, you’re in good company.
