NYT Connections hints and answers for today (May 23, 2025)

NYT Connections is back again with an exciting word puzzle. Looking for help to solve today’s NYT Connections puzzle? Whether you're stuck, curious about the logic behind the groupings or trying to preserve your win streak, you’re in the right place. Each day brings a fresh challenge that mixes wordplay, general knowledge and clever associations. Below, we explain what Connections is, how to play, and we provide the hints, categories, and full answers for today’s game — Friday, 23 May 2025. Warning: spoilers ahead.Connections is a daily word puzzle published by The New York Times. You are given 16 words and must group them into four sets of four words, where each set shares a common theme. Themes can relate to meanings, categories, idioms, or even subtle wordplay. Each puzzle has only one correct solution, making precision and logic key to winning.The puzzle presents a 4x4 grid of words. Your job is to find four groups of four words that connect through a shared idea. You can rearrange the words to help visualise patterns, and you're allowed four incorrect guesses. Groups are colour-coded by difficulty:Yellow – easiestGreen – moderateBlue – harderPurple – trickiest, often involving wordplay or double meaningsSubmit four words you believe belong together. If correct, that group locks in. If not, you lose a life. Lose four lives, and it’s game over.Use these hints to help form the correct groups:Yellow group — words used to describe lively celebrations or parties (Think of events that involve dancing, music, or big gatherings.)Green group — traits or qualities that define a person or thing (Consider words that relate to someone's personality, essence or internal makeup.)Blue group — old-school British weight measurements (You might hear these on a scale or in a recipe — pre-metric system units.)Purple group — things that the term “cat’s eye” can refer to (A beauty product, a type of marble, a celestial object and a type of eyewear style.)STONE, FIBER, MARBLE, EYELINER, BLOWOUT, MAKEUP, POUND, BASH, NATURE, GLASSES, BLAST, DRAM, NEBULA, OUNCE, CHARACTER, RAVEYellow (quite the party):BASHBLASTBLOWOUTRAVE These are all terms used to describe large, energetic parties or celebrations.Green (one’s constitution):CHARACTERFIBERMAKEUPNATURE Each of these words can refer to the fundamental qualities or essence of a person or thing.Blue (British imperial units of weight):DRAMOUNCEPOUNDSTONE All are units of weight commonly used in the imperial measurement system, particularly in the UK.Purple (things referred to as “cat’s eye”):EYELINER (a type of makeup styled as a cat-eye)GLASSES (as in lenses shaped or styled like a cat’s eye)MARBLE (cat’s eye marbles are a specific type of toy marble)NEBULA (as in the Cat’s Eye Nebula, a famous astronomical object)If you were thrown off by the group involving MAKEUP, EYELINER and BLOWOUT, you’re not alone—it was easy to assume a beauty-related category. However, separating the constitution-themed words from the party-themed ones was key to solving today’s puzzle. The purple category was the most obscure, tying together vastly different meanings of “cat’s eye” across science, fashion, cosmetics and childhood games.That’s everything for today’s puzzle. Whether you got them all right or learned something new, you can try again tomorrow at midnight. Happy puzzling!