NYT Connections today (Nov. 28, 2025): Answers for game #901, category breakdowns, and quick solving tips

Bassyonni

ago 25 minutes

NYT Connections today

Looking for the Connections November 28, 2025 solution? You’re in the right place. Today’s grid blended one straightforward meaning set, a sneaky verb set, and two theme buckets that punish overthinking—especially the sound/phonetics group. Below are the exact categories and words in their final colors, plus bite-size strategy notes to help you lock future streaks.

Connections 11/28/25 — the four groups (with words)

Yellow — FITTING (appropriate/correct)
FAIR • JUST • PROPER • RIGHT

Green — ACHIEVE VICTORY OVER
BEAT • BEST • TAKE • WORST

Blue — PARTS OF AN ELECTRIC GUITAR
FRET • PEG • PICKUP • STRING

Purple — PHONETIC ELEMENTS OF SPEECH
INTONATION • LOUDNESS • RHYTHM • STRESS

Why today’s trap words were tricky

RIGHT drags you toward the win/lose set, but its role here is “appropriate,” not “victory.” Pair it with FAIR/JUST/PROPER to avoid a -1.
STRING/PEG can read as generic hardware or verb forms; the guitar anchor rescues them once PICKUP and FRET come into view.
The ACHIEVE VICTORY OVER set hides in plain sight. WORST as a verb (“to worst someone”) is the linchpin—spotting that usage unlocks the group.

Fast route to today’s solve (replicable method)

Strip the obvious nouns. PICKUP and FRET scream “instrument” once you notice PEG and STRING. Box off Blue first.
Test semantic twins. Try FAIR/JUST together; if PROPER joins cleanly, Yellow is done.
Interrogate odd parts of speech. Ask “Which of these words can act as verbs for winning?” BEAT/BEST/TAKE are easy; WORST completes Green.
Confirm the remainder. The last four form the phonetics bucket—don’t let LOUDNESS/RHYTHM lure you back to music; here they’re speech features with INTONATION/STRESS.

Mini strategy clinic for future puzzles

Hunt the outlier usage. A single “weird” part of speech (like WORST as a verb) often identifies an entire set.
Name the umbrella, not the objects. If you catch yourself listing examples (“these feel musical”), force the parent label (“instrument parts”), then check every candidate against that definition.
Save sound/structure for last. Abstract language sets (phonetics, grammar, rhetoric) resolve quickly once concrete groups are removed from the board.
Color expectations: Yellow is meaning-obvious, Green is tight but fair, Blue rewards domain knowledge, Purple usually hides in redefinitions (grammar, wordplay, or transformations).

Streak saver: quick diagnostics when you’re “1 away”

Swap the synonym twin. If a 3-of-4 feels perfect, the fourth may be a look-alike from another set (RIGHT vs. BEST).
Check domain collision. LOUDNESS/RHYTHM look musical; verify whether your other two candidates live in the same domain or a different one (speech vs. music).
Ask the part-of-speech question. Today’s win-verbs showed why this matters.