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Spoiler warning: This page gives progressively stronger hints for NYT Connections puzzle #861, followed by the complete answers. Puzzle #861 was published for Sunday, October 19, 2025.
If you are still solving, start with the hints and stop before the answer section.
Hints for Connections #861
Here are the four category clues, from least revealing to most revealing:
- Yellow: These words describe ending up on the ground or losing your balance.
- Green: These are four parts of a physical book. One of them can also be associated with a tree.
- Blue: These words can precede out in expressions meaning to lose your temper or composure.
- Purple: Add or remove one letter to turn each word into the name of a chocolate bar.
For anyone solving from scratch, the 16 words in the grid were:
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FALL, DOVER, SPILL, CRUNCHY, JACKET, SKORT, WIPEOUT, SPINE, BUG, LEAVES, WIG, FLIP, FREAK, COVER, MARSH, TUMBLE
A useful solving path is to find the book-related words first, then the expressions ending in “out.” The falling words are fairly direct after that, leaving the chocolate-bar wordplay as the final group.
Spoilers: the answers to Connections #861
The four categories were:
| Category | Words |
|---|---|
| TOPPLE | FALL, SPILL, TUMBLE, WIPEOUT |
| PARTS OF A BOOK | COVER, JACKET, LEAVES, SPINE |
| LOSE IT, WITH “OUT” | BUG, FLIP, FREAK, WIG |
| CHOCOLATE BARS PLUS A LETTER | CRUNCHY, DOVER, MARSH, SKORT |
These groupings and the original word grid are reported consistently by TechRadar, Parade, WordHint, and Fortnite Insider.
Yellow: TOPPLE
- FALL
- SPILL
- TUMBLE
- WIPEOUT
All four can describe falling or being knocked down. Fall and tumble are straightforward; spill can mean to fall or lose one’s balance, while wipeout is the more colloquial expression for a hard fall or complete crash.
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Green: PARTS OF A BOOK
- COVER
- JACKET
- LEAVES
- SPINE
A cover protects the book, a jacket is the removable outer covering often found on hardbacks, and the spine is the bound edge. Leaves is the traditional bookmaking term for the individual sheets that make up a book. It is also a deliberate distraction: the word can suggest autumn foliage, making it tempting to pair with fall.
Blue: LOSE IT, WITH “OUT”
- BUG → bug out
- FLIP → flip out
- FREAK → freak out
- WIG → wig out
Putting out after each word creates a familiar expression for panicking, becoming angry, or losing emotional control. The category is easy to miss if the words are considered only on their own; the shared phrase appears when “out” is supplied.
Purple: CHOCOLATE BARS PLUS A LETTER
- CRUNCHY → CRUNCH by removing Y
- DOVER → DOVE by removing R
- MARSH → MARS by removing H
- SKORT → SKOR by removing T
Each grid entry becomes a chocolate-bar name after one letter is removed. This is the trickiest set because Dover and Marsh look like ordinary words rather than near-spellings of Dove and Mars. Skort is also a clothing word, which can pull attention away from the intended wordplay.
The main traps in puzzle #861
- FALL and LEAVES: Both can evoke autumn, but fall belongs with the words for toppling and leaves belongs with book parts.
- JACKET and SKORT: Both can be associated with clothing. Jacket is a book component; skort becomes the chocolate name Skor when its final letter is removed.
- The “out” phrases: BUG, FLIP, FREAK, and WIG do not form an obvious group until they are followed by out.
- The chocolate transformations: DOVER and MARSH require recognizing that a single extra letter changes Dove to Dover and Mars to Marsh.
More puzzles to play offline
If you enjoy the category-matching format away from a screen, the publisher describes a Connections puzzle book as a print collection designed for writing and group play. Check the current publication and availability details before buying, since the researched listing reflects a future-publication context relative to the research date. A broader option is Puzzle Mania!, described as a New York Times Games collection containing several puzzle formats, including Connections-style challenges; it should not be treated as a book containing the exact daily #861 puzzle.
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Final answer: Connections #861 grouped the words into TOPPLE, PARTS OF A BOOK, LOSE IT, WITH “OUT,” and CHOCOLATE BARS PLUS A LETTER. The biggest decoys were the autumn association between FALL and LEAVES, the clothing association between JACKET and SKORT, and the hidden chocolate names inside DOVER, MARSH, CRUNCHY, and SKORT.
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