NYT Connections puzzle answers and hints – April 20, 2025

The New York Times' Connections puzzle continues to gain popularity, becoming a daily brain workout for players around the globe. The game challenges players to group 16 words into four categories, each corresponding to a color that represents the difficulty level.

For Puzzle #679, players encountered clever word groupings that required some mental gymnastics to sort. Here's a full breakdown of the puzzle, including hints, categories, and the final answers.

Understanding the Puzzle Format

Each NYT Connections puzzle features a 4x4 grid filled with 16 words that seem unrelated at first glance. The goal is to group these words into four coherent sets of four, each linked by a shared theme or concept. The colors—yellow, green, blue, and purple—represent varying levels of difficulty, with yellow being the easiest and purple the hardest.

Hints for April 20, 2025 Puzzle

Before diving into the answers, the puzzle offered the following hints to guide players:

Yellow: A quick look at something.

Green: Essential items for tie-dyeing a shirt.

Blue: Things you can crack.

Purple: Words that commonly precede "hop."

Category Breakdown for Puzzle #679

Based on these hints, the categories for today's puzzle were fairly straightforward once you recognized the patterns:

Yellow – GLIMPSE

Hint: A brief look at something.

Words: Gander, Glance, Look, Peep

Green – NEEDS FOR TIE-DYEING A SHIRT

Hint: Necessary items for creating a tie-dye shirt.

Words: Basin, Dye, Rubber Bands, Shirt

Blue – THINGS YOU CAN CRACK

Hint: Items you can crack.

Words: Code, Egg, Joke, Whip

Purple – WORDS BEFORE “HOP”

Hint: Common words that precede "hop."

Words: Bar, Bunny, Hip, Sock

NYT Connections Answers – April 20, 2025

With these categories in mind, the solutions to today's puzzle were as follows:

GLIMPSE: Gander, Glance, Look, Peep

NEEDS FOR TIE-DYEING A SHIRT: Basin, Dye, Rubber Bands, Shirt

THINGS YOU CAN CRACK: Code, Egg, Joke, Whip

WORDS BEFORE “HOP”: Bar, Bunny, Hip, Sock

By recognizing the themes behind the groupings, many players were able to complete the puzzle successfully, while others discussed tricky overlaps—particularly in the purple category where words were linked by common prefixes.

Best Practices for Solving NYT Connections

For newcomers to the game or players looking to improve, there are a few strategies that can help:

Look for obvious patterns: Common phrases, compound words, or shared meanings can unlock many groups.

Think culturally: Some groupings are based on well-known cultural references or idiomatic expressions.

Start with the easiest category: Begin with yellow or green categories as they tend to be more intuitive.

FAQs About NYT Connections

What color is the hardest in Connections? The hardest categories are typically marked in purple, while yellow is the easiest.

Can you play past NYT Connections puzzles? Yes! You can access and play previous puzzles via the NYT Connections Archive page.