This is the archived NYT Connections puzzle for Sunday, March 23, 2025—game #651, not today’s current puzzle. Find four spoiler-safe clues below; the full categories and answers are beneath a spoiler warning so you can stop before the solution.
How Connections works
Connections gives you 16 words to sort into four groups of four based on a shared link. The colors indicate categories in ascending difficulty, and some groupings rely on wordplay or misleading overlaps.
Spoiler-safe hints for March 23
Try to solve the groups from these clues before scrolling to the answers:
- Yellow: Under a spell.
- Green: They help you fly, but the word has another meaning too.
- Blue: You tell time with these.
- Purple: Clapping-game lyrics.
Spoiler warning: answers for game #651
The 16 words in the grid were SMART, AIRPLANE, BACK, POCKET, GRAB, BUTTONS, STOP, FLY, FAIRY, ENTRANCE, BLACK, RIVET, MACK, WRIST, ABSORB, and HOSPITAL.
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- Yellow — CAPTIVATE: ABSORB, ENTRANCE, GRAB, RIVET.
- Green — THINGS WITH WINGS: AIRPLANE, FAIRY, FLY, HOSPITAL.
- Blue — WORDS THAT MODIFY “WATCH”: POCKET, SMART, STOP, WRIST.
- Purple — WORDS REPEATED IN “MISS MARY MACK”: BACK, BLACK, BUTTONS, MACK.
Why the trickiest groups fit
“Things with wings” includes a building
The green category uses “wings” broadly: an airplane has wings, a fairy and a fly are associated with wings, and a hospital can have a wing as a section of its building.
The watch words describe different kinds
POCKET, SMART, STOP, and WRIST each make a familiar compound with “watch”: pocket watch, smartwatch, stopwatch, and wristwatch.
Rank #2
The purple words come from a rhyme
BACK, BLACK, BUTTONS, and MACK point to repeated words in the children’s clapping rhyme “Miss Mary Mack.”
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The dated puzzle, hints, category names, and solution mapping are cross-checked against TechRadar’s March 23, 2025 Connections guide and the WordHint archive for March 23, 2025. For the general game format, see The New York Times Connections overview.
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