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Spoiler warning: The hints come first, followed by the complete answers for the Saturday, May 17, 2025, NYT Connections puzzle. The year is important because May 17, 2026, was a Sunday and featured a different board.
Spoiler warning: The hints below are designed to help you solve the Saturday, May 17, 2025, NYT Connections puzzle without immediately giving away the groups. The complete categories and sixteen answers appear under the spoiler heading.
Hints for NYT Connections on Saturday, May 17
Connections asks you to divide sixteen words into four groups of four. The groups may be based on a shared category, a common phrase, or wordplay. The color system generally moves from the most approachable group, yellow, to the most difficult, purple.
- Yellow hint: Think about broad biological classification.
- Green hint: These objects can show measured intervals or markings.
- Blue hint: Four words can precede “penguin.”
- Purple hint: Add the same single letter to the front of each word.
If you want to keep working, stop here. The full grid and answers are next.
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Spoilers: NYT Connections answers for May 17, 2025
The four categories in the Saturday, May 17, 2025, puzzle are:
Yellow: Member of a kingdom in taxonomy
ANIMAL, BACTERIA, FUNGUS, PLANT
These words identify broad biological groups commonly treated as kingdoms or kingdom-level categories in taxonomic classification. The puzzle uses the broad, familiar group names rather than asking players to distinguish among competing modern classification systems.
Green: Graduated instruments
BEAKER, RULER, PROTRACTOR, SYRINGE
Each item can carry graduation marks or measurement intervals. A ruler and protractor are obvious measuring tools, while graduated beakers and syringes measure volume.
Blue: Kinds of penguins
EMPEROR, KING, CHINSTRAP, MACARONI
Each word can be followed by “penguin”: emperor penguin, king penguin, chinstrap penguin, and macaroni penguin.
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COMMERCE, MAIL, SCOOTER, SIGNATURE
Putting the letter “e” in front of each word creates e-commerce, email, e-scooter, and e-signature. This is the puzzle’s wordplay-based group.
Full May 17 Connections grid
The sixteen words were:
MACARONI, ANIMAL, KING, MAIL, RULER, SCOOTER, PLANT, EMPEROR, BEAKER, BACTERIA, COMMERCE, SYRINGE, FUNGUS, SIGNATURE, CHINSTRAP, PROTRACTOR
Why some clues can be misleading
Connections is built around words that can plausibly fit more than one idea. King, for example, may look like a title or rank before it becomes part of the penguin group. Plant and animal can also appear in many everyday categories, so it helps to look for a set of four that forms a precise relationship rather than grouping words by a loose association.
The purple group is especially easy to miss if you search only for objects or subjects. Its members become related when the same letter is added at the beginning: e-commerce, email, e-scooter, and e-signature.
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May 17 date clarification
This answer guide treats Saturday, May 17, 2025 as the intended puzzle date. The weekday matters: May 17, 2026, falls on a Sunday, not a Saturday, and has a different Connections board.
If a 2026 production calendar is the source of the date, the separate Sunday, May 17, 2026, puzzle used these groups:
- Conduit: DUCT, LINE, MAIN, PIPE
- Tea-making verbs: BOIL, POUR, STEEP, STRAIN
- Swindle: FLEECE, HOSE, SQUEEZE, STIFF
- “School” modifiers: GRADE, GRAMMAR, HIGH, PRIMARY
That alternate board includes potential traps such as HOSE and PIPE, which can both suggest conduits, and MAIN and PRIMARY, which can overlap in meaning outside their intended groups.
How to replay the dated puzzle
The New York Times Help Center says the official Connections Archive is available to Games and All Access subscribers and reaches back to June 12, 2023. That makes the archive an official way to look for the May 17, 2025 board, subject to the account and access requirements in effect when you visit. Pricing, trials, and availability can change, so check the current New York Times information before subscribing.
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More Connections-style puzzles
If you prefer solving away from a screen, The New York Times Connections puzzle book is a physical adaptation of the category-matching game from The New York Times Games and Wyna Liu. It is an additional collection of puzzles, not a claim that the book contains this exact May 17 daily board.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which year was the Saturday, May 17, NYT Connections puzzle?
The Saturday date matches May 17, 2025. May 17, 2026, was a Sunday and had a different Connections puzzle.
Can I replay the May 17, 2025, Connections puzzle?
The official Connections Archive is available to New York Times Games and All Access subscribers, with puzzles reaching back to June 12, 2023, according to the NYT Help Center.
What was the yellow group in Connections on May 17, 2025?
ANIMAL, BACTERIA, FUNGUS, and PLANT.
What was the green group in Connections on May 17, 2025?
BEAKER, RULER, PROTRACTOR, and SYRINGE.
What was the blue group in Connections on May 17, 2025?
EMPEROR, KING, CHINSTRAP, and MACARONI.
What was the purple group in Connections on May 17, 2025?
COMMERCE, MAIL, SCOOTER, and SIGNATURE. Add “e” to the beginning of each to make e-commerce, email, e-scooter, and e-signature.
The Bottom Line
The Saturday date points to the May 17, 2025 board: taxonomy groups, graduated instruments, kinds of penguins, and words that become “e” terms. May 17, 2026 was a Sunday with a different puzzle.
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