NYT Connections Hints October 31, 2025: Check Clues and Answers to Solve Today’s Puzzle Game

NYT Connections is a daily New York Times word puzzle that asks players to make connections between 16 unrelated words. The challenge is to organize the words into groups of 4 that are based on a common theme or hidden theme (the relationship is not necessarily a theme). Each set is marked with a color for difficulty: easy, hard, and tricky. Each level encourages the player to think creatively and spot little patterns. It's a great combination of logic, vocabulary, and lateral thinking, which makes it one of the most rewarding and addicting word games for puzzlers across the globe. 

Today's NYT Connections puzzle 31st October,2025 (#873) is here with a fun Halloween spin, which is timely since it is the spooky season! While the words may appear random, take a closer look there is a clever combination of pop culture, classics, and nostalgic references to enjoy hidden in plain sight. This is the kind of puzzle that you will be guessing until the very end and stimulating your observation and reasoning skills. If you're up for a little festive brainteaser, you won't be disappointed with this fun trick and treat!

Check Out:NYT Connections Hints October 30, 2025: Check Clues and Answers to Solve Today’s Puzzle Game

Hints for NYT Connections October 31, 2025  

This is the hint to the NYT Connections Puzzle (#873) from October 31, 2025!

Your goal is to determine the unseen connections between the words and create four valid groups. Each group is connected in a certain way. It may be through fairytale characters, classic characters, everyday objects, or something completely different!

So buckle to think of ideas that could fit together, and see if you can find all the connections!

Yellow Group Hint: A classic bedtime visitor trio, and their breakfast drama!

Green Group Hint: A sailor with super strength and a signature snack.

Blue Group Hint: These items transform an ordinary girl’s night into a fairytale ball.

Purple Group Hint: An arcade queen on the chase for ghosts and fruit bonuses.

Stepping back will often expose the clever logic that provided the unifying. Let’s take a moment to go through the groups together, and explore the connections that tie these words together so nicely.

NYT Connections Answers for October 31, 2025 (Friday)

Here are the solutions to the NYT Connections Puzzle (#873) from October 31, 2025! If you've been trying to figure out how the words all fit together, now is your chance to see how close you were! Each color group shares a fun theme, whether they all come from fun characters, playful references, or names we all recognize! Check out the final connections below and see how your guesses did!

YELLOW: GOLDILOCKS (BEAR, BED, CHAIR, PORRIDGE)

BLUE: CINDERELLA (MOUSE, PUMPKIN, SLIPPER, WAND)

GREEN: POPEYE (ANCHOR, CAP, PIPE, SPINACH)

PURPLE: MS. PAC-MAN (BOW, CHERRIES, GHOST, PELLETS)

It’s perfectly fine if you don’t complete a Connections puzzle, or if you need to set it aside before reaching the solution.

What is the NYT Connections Game?

The NYT Connections Game is a word puzzle presented daily by The New York Times, where players try to group 16 words or phrases into four categories based on virtually hidden connections. Obviously, each group of four will have a common theme - all famous characters, all types of foods, or all expressions, for instance. The four categories are color-coded, yellow is the easiest, and then lines are drawn from there, with purple being the hardest or most complex. Players will use logic, vocabulary, and even sometimes a bit of pattern recognition to find all four of the correct sets, but players only have four mistakes to play with. Overall, it is a fun, brain-teasing way to try to establish lateral thinking and word associations, similarly to crosswords and trivia.

How to Play the NYT Connections Puzzle?

In the NYT Connections Puzzle, you'll see 16 words that you'll need to group into 4 sets of 4 words, each sharing some secret theme. In the first moment you want to just read all of the words and note any obvious associations or categories that they belong to. Once you're prepared to make a grouping, you just select 4 words and submit your idea. When you make a correct group, the game will flash those words in a color; yellow (easiest), green, blue, and purple (hardest). There is the added risk that you'll only have 4 incorrect guesses before the game is over! The key to solving the Connections puzzle is to look for subtle associations, double meanings, or cultural references in addition to your first instincts. Overall, it is a very fun challenge that we'll enjoy daily through a logical word game.

Best Strategies to Solve NYT Connections Puzzles

To play NYT Connections Puzzles efficiently, start by reviewing the words that appear in each game and looking for obvious links or themes throughout. At the start, group words that are similar or have common elements without committing to a specific grouping. Be aware that tricky overlaps exist with all games and that a group of words may be categorized incorrectly. Start by focusing on the easiest groups (usually yellow), before moving on to the harder sets of groupings. Also, think not only literally, but consider the importance of the same words in different frameworks, for example through idioms, or pop culture, or wordplay, or products/brands, etc. If necessary, utilize the "shuffle" button to allow your brain to see a new pattern. Do everything you can to avoid guessing randomly so you are not wasting your mistakes for the day. Over time you will even get quicker at spotting that hidden association and possibly even build a streak of wins.

Other NYT Games to Explore

If NYT Connections has become your new favorite, check out other daily brain teasers and games from The New York Times. 

Wordle: Guess a five-letter word in six attempts. 

Spelling Bee: Craft as many words as possible from a set of seven letters.

Mini Crossword: For a quick wordplay, perfect for a coffee break.

That's all for today's NYT Connections puzzle! Be sure to come back tomorrow for NYT Connections Hints and Answers for November 1, 2025.