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NYT Connections game #839, published September 27, 2025, divides its 16 words into four groups: affectionate descriptors, body appendages, popcorn-making methods, and verbs that pair with “away” to mean waste. If you want to solve it yourself, use the spoiler-safe clues first; the complete word list and explanations follow.
Can I get hints for Connections #839 without seeing the answers?
Yes. Read the clues in increasing order of detail and stop as soon as you recognize a group. The puzzle’s four colors identify the groups, while the clues below describe the connection without immediately listing every word.
Yellow hint
Look for four words that can describe an affectionate, caring or loving attitude.
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Green hint
Find four terms for body attachments or limbs. They can belong to humans or different kinds of animals.
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Blue hint
These four entries point to ways of making a familiar snack at home. TechRadar’s clue for this set is essentially “just add heat.”
Purple hint
The final four are verbs that can be followed by “away” when you mean wasting time, money or an opportunity.
What are the NYT Connections answers for September 27, 2025?
The complete solution for game #839 is below. “Yellow,” “green,” “blue” and “purple” are the puzzle’s difficulty-color labels, not additional words in the grid.
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|---|---|---|---|
| Yellow | LOVING | KIND, SWEET, TENDER, WARM | Each can describe an affectionate or caring manner. |
| Green | APPENDAGES | ARM, FIN, FLIPPER, WING | Each is a limb or body attachment. |
| Blue | POPCORN-MAKING METHODS | KETTLE, MICROWAVE, POPPER, STOVETOP | Each identifies a way to prepare popcorn. |
| Purple | SQUANDER, WITH “AWAY” | FIDDLE, FRITTER, THROW, TRIFLE | Each forms a phrase with “away” meaning waste or squander. |
What is the yellow group in Connections #839?
The yellow category is LOVING: KIND, SWEET, TENDER and WARM. These words can all characterize a person’s manner, a gesture or an emotional tone rather than a physical object.
The useful distinction is the shared emotional sense. “Warm,” for example, can describe temperature, but it can also describe a welcoming person; “sweet” can refer to taste, yet it can also mean considerate or affectionate. “Tender” has physical and culinary meanings, but in this group it means gentle or loving. “Kind” supplies the most direct signal because it commonly describes considerate behavior.
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What is the green group in Connections #839?
The green category is APPENDAGES: ARM, FIN, FLIPPER and WING. They are body parts that extend from a central body and assist with movement, balance or other physical functions.
The set deliberately spans different creatures. An arm is a human or mammalian limb; a fin is associated with fish and other aquatic animals; a flipper suggests aquatic mammals or a swimming aid; and a wing is the flight appendage of birds, insects and some other animals. The broad anatomical idea, rather than one species, is what unites them.
What is the blue group in Connections #839?
The blue category is POPCORN-MAKING METHODS: KETTLE, MICROWAVE, POPPER and STOVETOP. The wording is intentionally practical: each entry points to a way a person might prepare popcorn at home.
“Microwave” and “stovetop” describe heat sources or cooking approaches. “Kettle” points to kettle-style popcorn, while “popper” refers to a popcorn-making device. The category therefore mixes appliance language with cooking-method language, which can make it less immediately obvious than a set made entirely from the same grammatical type.
What is the purple group in Connections #839?
The purple category is SQUANDER, WITH “AWAY”: FIDDLE, FRITTER, THROW and TRIFLE. Add “away” to each verb and the resulting phrase conveys wasting something valuable.
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- Fiddle away: waste time or attention through unproductive activity.
- Fritter away: spend time, money or an opportunity gradually and carelessly.
- Throw away: discard something, or waste a chance or resource.
- Trifle away: waste time or opportunity by treating it as unimportant.
This is a phrase-completion category rather than a straightforward object or adjective category. The shared meaning appears only after the extra word is supplied, which is why it is easy to leave for last.
Why are TENDER and WING deliberate decoys?
TENDER and WING can initially suggest food, especially when read together as parts of a possible chicken-related set. That interpretation is a trap in this grid.
Tender belongs with KIND, SWEET and WARM because it describes a gentle or affectionate quality. Wing belongs with ARM, FIN and FLIPPER because it is an appendage. Their food associations are real enough to distract you, but they do not produce a complete four-word category. In Connections, a plausible two-word theme is not sufficient; the proposed relationship must account cleanly for all four entries without leaving a stronger category elsewhere.
What is the best order for solving this puzzle?
A reliable approach is to lock in the clearest semantic group, then use the reduced grid to expose the more indirect relationships.
- Scan for obvious descriptive language. KIND, SWEET, TENDER and WARM share an affectionate sense, so the loving group is a strong early candidate.
- Separate body-part vocabulary. ARM, FIN, FLIPPER and WING form a coherent anatomical set once the food-related decoy is rejected.
- Look for a common household activity. KETTLE, MICROWAVE, POPPER and STOVETOP all point toward making popcorn, even though the words do not have identical grammatical forms.
- Use the remaining words as a phrase test. FIDDLE, FRITTER, THROW and TRIFLE each pair with “away,” and the completed phrases share the sense of squandering.
This order follows the puzzle’s strongest signals: direct descriptive meaning first, concrete anatomy second, a shared activity third and a phrase-based category last. If a candidate group leaves an awkward leftover, undo it before submitting; the decoy pair in this grid is designed to reward that check.
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How does the Connections format work for game #839?
The game presents 16 words and asks you to divide them into four groups of four. Every word must be used exactly once, so a category is valid only when all four members fit and no word is needed more convincingly elsewhere.
TechRadar’s September 27, 2025 guide notes that players can make up to four mistakes. That limit makes it worthwhile to test a suspected connection mentally before selecting four words, especially when a word such as TENDER or WING appears to support more than one theme.
The four color labels indicate different difficulty levels. They are useful as a way to discuss the solved puzzle—yellow LOVING, green APPENDAGES, blue POPCORN-MAKING METHODS and purple SQUANDER, WITH “AWAY”—but you do not need to know a color in advance to solve a group.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What should the final answer to #839 include?
For a spoiler-free share, give only the four category names or the four color clues. For a full solution, include every word in its category and explain the relationship, particularly the “away” construction in the purple group and the food-related decoy involving TENDER and WING.
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What are the key takeaways from Connections #839?
- LOVING: KIND, SWEET, TENDER, WARM.
- APPENDAGES: ARM, FIN, FLIPPER, WING.
- POPCORN-MAKING METHODS: KETTLE, MICROWAVE, POPPER, STOVETOP.
- SQUANDER, WITH “AWAY”: FIDDLE, FRITTER, THROW, TRIFLE.
- TENDER and WING look as if they might form part of a food group, but their correct categories are LOVING and APPENDAGES.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who wrote the clue guide for this Connections date?
TechRadar contributor Johnny Dee wrote the dated guide. The guide frames its clues as help for solving the day’s NYT Connections puzzle while maintaining a streak.
Is “popper” a method or an appliance?
In this grid, POPPER is used as shorthand for a popcorn-making device, while KETTLE, MICROWAVE and STOVETOP describe equipment or cooking approaches. The category uses the broader idea of a way to make popcorn rather than a single grammatical form.
Why does the purple category add the word “away”?
Connections sometimes groups words by the phrase they create with a shared companion word. Here, adding “away” turns each verb into an expression about wasting time, money or opportunity.
Can I open this archived puzzle on a phone?
The published guide directs readers to the official NYT Games site, which it describes as available for desktop or mobile play. The article does not establish a separate app requirement for this specific puzzle.
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