Conquer Today's NYT Connections: Your Ultimate Guide for October 23!

Another day, another thrilling brain-teaser from The New York Times Connections! If you're tackling the puzzle for Thursday, October 23rd, and finding yourself just a few words shy of that perfect solve, you've landed in the right place. We're here to provide the hints, tips, and ultimately, the solutions you need to keep your winning streak alive or finally break through that tricky purple category.

Connections has quickly become a daily ritual for many, challenging players to find common threads between seemingly unrelated words.

You're presented with 16 words, and your task is to group them into four sets of four, each with a distinct connection. The catch? You can only make four mistakes before it's game over! It's a delightful blend of lateral thinking, vocabulary, and pattern recognition.

Before we dive into today's specific categories, remember these golden rules for Connections success:

• Look for the obvious first: Sometimes, the yellow category is a straightforward grouping of objects or concepts.
• Don't get fixated: If a word isn't fitting into your initial theory, try it with another group.

  Words often have multiple meanings.

• Consider synonyms and antonyms: These are frequent connections, especially in the green and blue categories.
• Beware of misdirection: The puzzle designers love to throw in words that could belong to multiple groups to throw you off.
• The purple category is often tricky: This group frequently involves homophones, puns, or words that share an unusual linguistic characteristic.

  It's often best saved for last, once you've sorted out the other three.

Ready for a little nudge in the right direction for October 23rd? Let's get to today's hints!

NYT Connections Hints for October 23rd, 2025

Remember, these are gentle nudges to help you think. Try to solve them on your own before peeking at the answers below!

Yellow Category Hints:

This group is pretty straightforward.

Think about what a player might use or wear during a classic American pastime. They're essential items for a specific sport.

Green Category Hints:

For this set, consider things you'd use to tend to a patch of land. These are all tools designed for cultivation or digging.

Blue Category Hints:

The connection here is a common word that can precede each of these words to form a compound noun.

Think about coverings or protective gear.

Purple Category Hints:

This is the trickiest one! Focus on how these words sound rather than how they're spelled. Each word in this group is a homophone for a numerical value. Don't overthink the spelling!

Still stumped? No worries, it happens to the best of us! Scroll down when you're ready for the full reveal.

You've been warned: SPOILER ALERT!

NYT Connections Answers for October 23rd, 2025

Here are the groups and their connections for today's puzzle. How many did you get?

• Yellow Category: BASEBALL GEAR
  Words: GLOVE, BAT, BALL, HELMET
• Green Category: GARDEN TOOLS
  Words: SPADE, HOE, RAKE, TROWEL
• Blue Category: THINGS THAT PRECEDE "CAP"
  Words: KNEE, NIGHT, SHOWER, SKI
• Purple Category: HOMOPHONES FOR NUMBERS
  Words: ATE (eight), SEA (see/C), SUN (one/son), WON (one)

How did you fare today? Whether you aced it or learned a new trick, every Connections puzzle is a fun way to exercise your brain.

Come back tomorrow for more hints and solutions, and keep those brain cells firing! Happy puzzling!