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Spoiler warning: The complete Connections answers for Wednesday, November 5, 2025, appear below the hint sections. Today’s puzzle is game #878. Because the game becomes available at midnight in each player’s local time zone, some sites may publish this puzzle on November 4 while labeling it for November 5.
Today’s 16 Connections words
Here are the words in the November 5, 2025, grid:
KNIGHT, COAT, BUTCHER, BAKER, FLACK, KNIFE, CANDLESTICK, MAKER, FRANKLIN, FOREST, BOW, BLOW, SPOIL, WRENCH, BOTCH, ROPE
If you want to keep solving without seeing the answers, stop here and use the graduated clues below.
Hints for Connections #878
| Color | Hint |
|---|---|
| Yellow | A failed or badly executed attempt |
| Green | Objects associated with Colonel Mustard’s board-game setting |
| Blue | Famous women associated with soul and R&B music |
| Purple | Add the same weather-related word before each entry |
One-word clues
- Yellow: BUTCHER
- Green: ROPE
- Blue: FLACK
- Purple: COAT
Connections answers for November 5, 2025
Spoilers begin here.
Yellow: MAKE A HASH OF
BLOW, BOTCH, BUTCHER, SPOIL
Each word can describe ruining, mishandling, or badly executing something. To “make a hash of” a task is to do it poorly or leave it in a mess.
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Green: WEAPONS IN THE GAME CLUE
CANDLESTICK, KNIFE, ROPE, WRENCH
These are the four weapons associated with the North American version of the murder-mystery board game Clue: the Candlestick, Knife, Rope, and Wrench. The category is specifically a reference to the game’s weapons rather than weapons in general.
Blue: ICONIC SOUL SINGERS
BAKER, FLACK, FRANKLIN, KNIGHT
These are surnames of prominent soul and R&B singers:
- BAKER: Anita Baker
- FLACK: Roberta Flack
- FRANKLIN: Aretha Franklin
- KNIGHT: Gladys Knight
The group is intentionally indirect: the grid gives you surnames, not the performers’ full names.
Purple: RAIN___
BOW, COAT, FOREST, MAKER
Put RAIN before each word:
- RAIN + BOW = RAINBOW
- RAIN + COAT = RAINCOAT
- RAIN + FOREST = RAINFOREST
- RAIN + MAKER = RAINMAKER
This is likely the trickiest group because the connection depends on forming familiar compound words and phrases rather than identifying a shared subject.
Why this puzzle was tricky
The grid contains a tempting near-reference to the nursery-rhyme phrase “butcher, baker, candlestick maker.” Those four words appear to fit together at first glance, but they are deliberately split across different categories.
BUTCHER belongs in the Yellow group with BLOW, BOTCH, and SPOIL. CANDLESTICK belongs with the Clue weapons, while MAKER completes the RAIN___ group with BOW, COAT, and FOREST. Recognizing that decoy is important because Connections generally rewards the group that explains all four words most precisely—not the familiar phrase that happens to link several entries.
The singer category creates a second layer of misdirection. BAKER, FLACK, FRANKLIN, and KNIGHT look like ordinary surnames until you notice that all four point to well-known women in soul and R&B music.
Complete solution at a glance
| Category | Words |
|---|---|
| Make a hash of | BLOW, BOTCH, BUTCHER, SPOIL |
| Weapons in the game Clue | CANDLESTICK, KNIFE, ROPE, WRENCH |
| Iconic soul singers | BAKER, FLACK, FRANKLIN, KNIGHT |
| RAIN___ | BOW, COAT, FOREST, MAKER |
The word list and solution groupings are also independently reported by Forbes and TechRadar.
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Related puzzle books
Shopping suggestion: If you enjoy solving Connections away from a screen, the publisher page for The New York Times Games Connections describes a lay-flat print book with new puzzles, varied difficulty, behind-the-scenes material, and grid variations. The listing gives ISBN 9798893312607 and a publication date of October 22, 2026. Check the retailer or publisher for current availability before ordering; it is not needed to solve game #878.
For a broader, non-official alternative, The Complete Kennections by Ken Jennings contains 1,000 puzzles and 5,000 questions. It is a related connection-style trivia book, not an official New York Times Connections answer book.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the NYT Connections answer for November 5, 2025?
The four groups are MAKE A HASH OF: BLOW, BOTCH, BUTCHER, SPOIL; WEAPONS IN THE GAME CLUE: CANDLESTICK, KNIFE, ROPE, WRENCH; ICONIC SOUL SINGERS: BAKER, FLACK, FRANKLIN, KNIGHT; and RAIN___: BOW, COAT, FOREST, MAKER.
What number Connections puzzle was released on November 5, 2025?
The November 5, 2025, puzzle was Connections game #878.
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They resemble the familiar phrase “butcher, baker, candlestick maker,” but that is a decoy. BUTCHER belongs to MAKE A HASH OF, CANDLESTICK belongs to the Clue weapons, and MAKER forms RAINMAKER in the Purple group.
The Bottom Line
The key to Connections #878 is avoiding the “butcher, baker, candlestick maker” decoy: separate those words and look for failed attempts, Clue weapons, soul-singer surnames, and words that follow RAIN.
Quick Recap
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