Do you like making connections in life? No, I am not talking about the ones on LinkedIn, but NYT’s much-hyped Connections game. Unlike the social media app, creating a connection in the game is pretty easy as you need to categorize four similar words into a category. It’s a simple yet challenging game that can test your wits as well as your vocabulary skills. So, without any further ado, here are the answers and hints for today’s NYT Connections #859 for October 17, 2025.

NYT Connections #959 Hints, Answers Today – January 25, 2026 - 1

Today’s NYT Connections #859 Hints for October 17, 2025

  • Yellow category hint : Related to a presentation
  • Green category hint: Mementoes from a trip.
  • Blue category hint : Well-known storybook names.
  • Purple category hint: Ways to measure or describe atmospheric conditions.

Did you guess all the words? Let’s take a look at them below.

Today’s NYT Connections #859 Answer for October 17, 2025

  • Yellow Category: Clicker, Laser Pointer, Projector, Slides (Used During a Presentation)
  • Green Category : Figurine, Key ring, Magnet, Postcard (Items in a Souvenir Shop)
  • Blue Category: Chicken Little, Jack, Thumbelina, Tom Thumb (Folktale Characters)
  • Purple Category: Beaufort scale, Dewpoint, Heat index, Wind Chill (Weather terms)

What do you think of today’s NYT Connections puzzle?

Today’s Connections puzzle was notably accessible, providing a smooth experience from start to finish. The Yellow and Green categories felt straightforward, with their unifying themes immediately apparent—a nice easy way to get the brain warmed up. The Blue category, though slightly more specific, was still quickly solvable based on its familiarity. The Purple category was the most dense with technical language, but the common thread tying the four words together as a clear set of related concepts kept the difficulty low. While the puzzle didn’t feature a tricky, wordplay-based group, it was a solid, enjoyable solve, earning a 3 out of 5 for how neat it was.

You can also checkout today’s answers for other NYT puzzles :

  • NYT Strands Puzzle Answers
  • NYT Wordle Answers
  • NYT Spelling Bee Answers
  • NYT PIPS Answers
  • NYT Mini Crossword

How to Play NYT Connections

Playing NYT Connections is pretty straightforward, as you need to group four similar words in a single group . However, the difficulty increases, with the yellow category being the easiest and purple being the hardest. The green category refers to moderate difficulty, while blue is complex, being one notch above.

There are 16 words in each puzzle , and there is a theme for each group, although the puzzle doesn’t reveal it. You only get four chances to correctly guess every group’s meaning; you can have four incorrect guesses, so use them wisely. If the answer is correct, you can move on to the next group otherwise, you are stuck with the same one.

Moreover, just like Wordle, Connections refreshes every 24 hours, so you will need to wait till the next day for a fresh one. Also, if you guess incorrectly, there’s no way to play the game again, and it will simply reveal the correct results.

While playing the game itself does not require an NYT connection, you will need to create one if you wish to track your progress. You can also share your results by copying them to the clipboard and pasting them wherever you want.