These are the hints and answers for the Thursday, December 11, 2025 edition of NYT Connections, puzzle #914. If you’re solving it, start with the word bank and spoiler-light clues below; the full groups and answers are farther down.
The 16 words in Connections #914
QUE, SERA, BUNNY, EARS, QUEUE, DEVIL, GNOME, GRILL, SEAR, BOWL, ELLE, JACKET, SHED, ARE, ARES, SPRINKLER.
Hints for each group
- Yellow: Things you might see close to home, outside.
- Green: The same letters, rearranged.
- Blue: Spellings that sound like letters of the alphabet.
- Purple: Each word can follow “dust.”
One answer from each group
- Yellow: GRILL
- Green: EARS
- Blue: QUE
- Purple: BUNNY
Full answers for Connections #914
Yellow: Things seen in a yard
GNOME, GRILL, SHED, SPRINKLER
Green: Anagrams
ARES, EARS, SEAR, SERA
Blue: Letter homophones
ARE, ELLE, QUE, QUEUE
Each spelling sounds like a letter name: ARE like R, ELLE like L, QUE like K, and QUEUE like Q.
Purple: Words that follow “dust”
BOWL, BUNNY, DEVIL, JACKET
The phrases are dust bowl, dust bunny, dust devil, and dust jacket.
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Why the connections can be tricky
The green set is built from four anagrams: ARES, EARS, SEAR, and SERA use the same letters in different orders. The blue set is about pronunciation rather than spelling: each word sounds like a letter name. Those sound-based links can be easy to overlook when the word bank also invites more obvious letter-pattern groupings.
“QUE SERA SERA” and “BUNNY EARS” may catch the eye, but a reliable group needs one relationship that accounts for all four words. After identifying a tempting pair or phrase, check whether the remaining words complete a more specific four-word set.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to play or find the archive
Connections gives you 16 words to sort into four groups of four. The game allows four mistakes before it ends. The New York Times says its daily Connections game is released at midnight in your timezone and is available through the Games app, the Connections page on NYTimes.com, The Athletic site, and the News app. It is free to play across platforms; an account is recommended if you want to retain progress across devices. NYT Help Center: Connections.
The official archive goes back to June 12, 2023 and is available to All Access and Games subscribers. Archived play requires an NYT account for progress and history, can affect some statistics, does not change streaks, and completed archive puzzles cannot be replayed. NYT Help Center: Connections.
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