Need help with NYT Connections for September 13, 2025? Puzzle #825 asks you to sort 16 words into four groups of four. Start with the hints below if you want a nudge; the full answers and a tricky decoy are further down.
Hints for Connections #825
These clues follow the puzzle’s color order, from a gentler hint to the category names.
- Yellow: Of consequence; vital or important.
- Green: Not public; intimate and undisclosed.
- Blue: Currency units you might see on a forex board.
- Purple: Complete the phrase “Buffalo ____.”
The 16 words
NICKEL, KEY, WON, MAJOR, PRINCIPAL, DOLLAR, PRIVATE, BILL, SOLDIER, PERSONAL, CRITICAL, POUND, INNER, WING, STERLING, SECRET.
Answers for September 13
Spoilers below. The puzzle number and date are confirmed as #825, Saturday, September 13, 2025, by AllThings.How and TechRadar. The answers are:
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- Yellow — Important: CRITICAL, KEY, MAJOR, PRINCIPAL.
- Green — Intimate and undisclosed: INNER, PERSONAL, PRIVATE, SECRET.
- Blue — Global currencies: DOLLAR, POUND, STERLING, WON.
- Purple — Buffalo ____: BILL, NICKEL, SOLDIER, WING.
Why the money words are a trap
DOLLAR and BILL look like a natural pair because both can refer to money. But BILL belongs with NICKEL, SOLDIER and WING: each completes a familiar “Buffalo ____” phrase. DOLLAR instead joins POUND, STERLING and WON as a currency. The other tiles also have alternate meanings: WON can be a verb, and POUND can describe an action, but their shared category points to currencies.
A note on the currency spelling
Two guides, AllThings.How and TechRadar, give the tile as STERLING; Insider Gaming reports STIRLING. This answer key uses STERLING, the spelling shown by the first two guides.
Rank #2
How Connections works
Connections presents 16 words for players to sort into four groups of four. AllThings.How reports that the game allows four incorrect guesses. Its Connections Companion testers rated this puzzle 2.8 out of 5 in 2025; that is a reported tester rating, not an official difficulty statistic.
Quick Recap
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