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NYT Connections #866 for Friday, October 24, 2025, groups its 16 words around peak periods, text formatting, colorful things, and accessories hidden at the ends of words. Use the progressive hints below before opening the complete spoiler section.
Spoiler warning: This guide reveals every answer for NYT Connections #866, the standard Connections puzzle released on Friday, October 24, 2025. If you are still solving, use the hints first and stop before the answer section.
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Hints for NYT Connections #866
The 16 words in the October 24 puzzle are:
BAYWATCH, HIGHLIGHT, RAINBOW, HERRING, PRIME, SUNSET, BOLD, PEACOCK, COOTIE, HEYDAY, KALEIDOSCOPE, UNDERLINE, ZENITH, KINGPIN, STRIKETHROUGH, PINNACLE
Yellow hint
Look for words describing a person’s or thing’s peak period, highest point, or best years.
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One-word nudge: PINNACLE
Green hint
These are things you can do when formatting or styling written text.
One-word nudge: HIGHLIGHT
Blue hint
Think of things commonly associated with vivid, varied, or striking colors.
One-word nudge: PEACOCK
Purple hint
Each answer ends with the name of an accessory or wearable item.
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One-word nudge: KINGPIN
NYT Connections answers for October 24, 2025
Here are the complete solutions. Stop reading now if you wanted hints only.
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| Category | Words |
|---|---|
| Yellow: BEST YEARS | HEYDAY, PINNACLE, PRIME, ZENITH |
| Green: THINGS YOU CAN DO TO TEXT | BOLD, HIGHLIGHT, STRIKETHROUGH, UNDERLINE |
| Blue: THINGS KNOWN FOR BEING COLORFUL | KALEIDOSCOPE, PEACOCK, RAINBOW, SUNSET |
| Purple: ENDING IN ACCESSORIES | BAYWATCH, COOTIE, HERRING, KINGPIN |
How each group works
Yellow: BEST YEARS
HEYDAY, PINNACLE, PRIME, ZENITH all describe a peak or high point. A heyday is a period of great success or popularity; someone’s prime can mean their best period; and a pinnacle or zenith is the highest point.
Green: THINGS YOU CAN DO TO TEXT
BOLD, HIGHLIGHT, STRIKETHROUGH, UNDERLINE are text-formatting actions or styles. You can make text bold, highlight it, draw a line through it with strikethrough, or underline it.
Blue: THINGS KNOWN FOR BEING COLORFUL
KALEIDOSCOPE, PEACOCK, RAINBOW, SUNSET are all strongly associated with vivid or multicolored appearances. A kaleidoscope creates changing patterns, a peacock is known for its plumage, a rainbow displays a spectrum of colors, and sunsets are often noted for dramatic colors in the sky.
Purple: ENDING IN ACCESSORIES
The purple group is a wordplay category. Each full entry ends with letters that spell the name of an accessory:
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- BAYWATCH ends in WATCH.
- COOTIE ends in TIE.
- HERRING ends in EARRING.
- KINGPIN ends in PIN.
HERRING is the most deceptive entry because the accessory is hidden across the ending letters: herring contains EARRING as its final six letters. The other words can also look tempting in unrelated groups, which is typical of the harder purple category.
A practical solve path
- Start with the formatting terms. BOLD, HIGHLIGHT, STRIKETHROUGH, and UNDERLINE form a clean set of actions available in many text editors and word processors.
- Collect the peak-period synonyms. HEYDAY, PINNACLE, PRIME, and ZENITH share the idea of a best or highest point.
- Group the vivid images. KALEIDOSCOPE, PEACOCK, RAINBOW, and SUNSET all point toward color.
- Use elimination, then inspect the word endings. BAYWATCH, COOTIE, HERRING, and KINGPIN are the remaining words. Their endings—WATCH, TIE, EARRING, and PIN—complete the wordplay group.
This order is useful because the first two groups are relatively direct. The final category is easier to see after the obvious words have been removed, although spotting EARRING inside HERRING is the key to confirming the purple set.
How NYT Connections works
Connections presents 16 words and asks players to divide them into four groups of four. Each group is assigned a color: yellow is generally the most straightforward, followed by green, blue, and purple, which is usually the most challenging. The game is designed to create plausible overlaps, so a word may appear to fit more than one theme before the complete set becomes clear.
The daily puzzle is released at midnight in the player’s time zone and is available through the official Connections game and NYT Games platforms. This October 24 puzzle is the standard NYT Connections game, not the separate Connections Sports Edition, which has its own puzzles.
Best Value
- Find hundreds of words in an easy to read format - Some words you'll spot easily, but you'll have to search hard for others.
- A wide range of puzzle topics, including movies, actors, sports, cars, and more!
- Variations on the standard word search puzzles are included for extra challenge.
- Answer key in the back of the book.
- Spiral bound, 192 pages.
Was the October 24 puzzle difficult?
There is no single official universal difficulty score for this puzzle. Secondary guides gave it relatively favorable assessments: one reported a tester rating of 2.5 out of 5, while another described it as easy and reported a perfect solve. Those are publisher-specific judgments, not official New York Times ratings.
The first three groups are comparatively accessible once their themes are recognized. The purple group supplies most of the challenge because it depends on word endings rather than on the ordinary meanings of the complete entries—especially the concealed EARRING in HERRING.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the NYT Connections answers for October 24, 2025?
The four categories are BEST YEARS; THINGS YOU CAN DO TO TEXT; THINGS KNOWN FOR BEING COLORFUL; and ENDING IN ACCESSORIES.
Why is HERRING in the purple group?
HERRING ends with the letters EARRING, making it part of the purple category along with BAYWATCH, COOTIE, and KINGPIN.
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No. This was the standard NYT Connections puzzle, not the separate Connections Sports Edition puzzle for the same date.
The Bottom Line
NYT Connections #866, from October 24, 2025, groups the words into BEST YEARS; THINGS YOU CAN DO TO TEXT; THINGS KNOWN FOR BEING COLORFUL; and ENDING IN ACCESSORIES. The trickiest answer is the purple group, where HERRING ends with EARRING.
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