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Spoiler warning: This page contains the complete solution to NYT Connections puzzle #664, published on Saturday, April 5, 2025. If you are still solving, start with the hints below and stop before the answer section.
Hints for Connections #664
Try to identify four groups of four before reading the full reveal.
- Yellow: These words can describe hiring or taking someone on for work.
- Green: You may find these on a website.
- Blue: You can read these.
- Purple: Each word ends with the name of a medieval weapon.
The 16 words in Connections #664
The board was:
CROSSWORD, TIME, STAR, SIGN, RAINBOW, MENU, CONTRACT, BILLBOARD, BANNER, PEOPLE, GRIMACE, ENGAGE, RETAIN, HEADER, SEMBLANCE, SIDEBAR
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Connections #664 answers for April 5, 2025
Yellow: EMPLOY
- CONTRACT
- ENGAGE
- RETAIN
- SIGN
Each word can be used in the sense of employing or hiring someone. A business might contract or engage a worker, retain someone’s services, or sign a person to an agreement or job.
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Green: PARTS OF A WEBSITE
- BANNER
- HEADER
- MENU
- SIDEBAR
These are familiar website layout, navigation, or display elements. The group is easy to overlook because banner can also suggest an advertisement, while menu can refer to a restaurant or app.
Blue: MAGAZINES
- BILLBOARD
- PEOPLE
- STAR
- TIME
Here, the words point to magazine titles or magazine brands rather than their most general dictionary meanings. Billboard, People, Star, and Time are the intended connection.
Purple: ENDING WITH MEDIEVAL WEAPONS
- CROSSWORD → SWORD
- GRIMACE → MACE
- RAINBOW → BOW
- SEMBLANCE → LANCE
The four complete words are not medieval weapons. Instead, the connection appears when the ending of each word is isolated:
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| Board word | Ending |
|---|---|
| CROSSWORD | SWORD |
| GRIMACE | MACE |
| RAINBOW | BOW |
| SEMBLANCE | LANCE |
Sword, mace, bow, and lance are all weapons associated with medieval combat or historical weaponry. This makes the purple group more of a word-ending puzzle than a standard meaning-based category.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why Connections #664 was tricky
Several entries encourage plausible but incorrect groupings. Sign may look like it belongs with symbols or websites, and banner can suggest an advertisement or publication. Star and Time also have broad everyday meanings, so the magazine category may not become clear until the more specific title connection emerges.
The purple group is the biggest departure from ordinary semantic categories. Looking at the whole words does not reveal a shared subject. Checking their final letters exposes the four weapon names and completes the grid.
Rank #3
There is no verified official solve rate or difficulty score established here for this particular puzzle, so the best description is simply that the puzzle relies on several deliberately distracting meanings, with an especially non-semantic purple category.
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The Bottom Line
The answers to NYT Connections #664 for April 5, 2025, were EMPLOY (CONTRACT, ENGAGE, RETAIN, SIGN), PARTS OF A WEBSITE (BANNER, HEADER, MENU, SIDEBAR), MAGAZINES (BILLBOARD, PEOPLE, STAR, TIME), and words ending in medieval weapons (CROSSWORD, GRIMACE, RAINBOW, SEMBLANCE).
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