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Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →The NYT Connections hints and answers for September 8, 2025, are for puzzle #820: the groups are nonsense terms, verbs paired with “up,” fictional spies, and “cat ___” compounds. The full answers are BALONEY, BULL, BUNK, RUBBISH; CRANK, HIKE, JACK, RAISE; ARCHER, HUNT, PEEL, POWERS; and FISH, NAP, TAIL, WALK.
Puzzle #820 was published on Monday, September 8, 2025. Hints appear before the complete solution so players can try the grid without immediately seeing every answer.
Key takeaways
- NYT Connections puzzle #820 was published on Monday, September 8, 2025.
- The yellow group is NONSENSE: BALONEY, BULL, BUNK, and RUBBISH.
- The green group uses verbs that pair with “up” to mean increase: CRANK, HIKE, JACK, and RAISE.
- The blue group consists of fictional spies: ARCHER, HUNT, PEEL, and POWERS.
- The purple group completes familiar “cat ___” compounds: FISH, NAP, TAIL, and WALK.
- Connections Companion gave this puzzle an editor-rated difficulty of 3.5 out of 5; no verified completion-rate or average solve-time statistic was available.
What are the NYT Connections hints and answers for September 8?
The four NYT Connections answers for September 8, 2025, puzzle #820, are NONSENSE, INCREASE, WITH “UP”, FICTIONAL SPIES, and CAT ___. The 16 words are FISH, HIKE, HUNT, JACK, BULL, PEEL, ARCHER, TAIL, CRANK, WALK, NAP, BUNK, BALONEY, RAISE, RUBBISH, and POWERS.
Spoiler warning: The hints below come first, but the complete groups and explanations appear farther down. Stop before the “Full Connections #820 answers” heading if you still want to solve the puzzle yourself.
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What are the hints for Connections #820?
Use these clues without revealing the four completed groups:
| Color | Hint | How to approach it |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow | Words used to dismiss something as nonsense, false, or worthless. | Look for informal terms that reject a claim or idea. |
| Green | Verbs that pair with “up” to mean increase. | Say each word before “up,” as in increasing a price, level, or volume. |
| Blue | Names associated with fictional spies. | Think of recognizable spy characters from television and film. |
| Purple | Words that complete familiar “cat ___” compounds. | Put “cat” before each word to form a compound word. |
Full Connections #820 answers
The full solution for NYT Connections #820, published September 8, 2025, is below.
| Color | Category | Words | Why they fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yellow | NONSENSE | BALONEY, BULL, BUNK, RUBBISH | Each word can dismiss a statement, claim, or idea as false, absurd, or worthless. |
| Green | INCREASE, WITH “UP” | CRANK, HIKE, JACK, RAISE | Each word can precede “up” in a phrase describing an increase. |
| Blue | FICTIONAL SPIES | ARCHER, HUNT, PEEL, POWERS | These names point to Sterling Archer, Ethan Hunt, Emma Peel, and Austin Powers. |
| Purple | CAT ___ | FISH, NAP, TAIL, WALK | Adding “cat” creates catfish, catnap, cattail, and catwalk. |
Why is BALONEY, BULL, BUNK, and RUBBISH the yellow group?
BALONEY, BULL, BUNK, and RUBBISH are dismissive terms for nonsense or something untrue. “Baloney,” “bull,” and “bunk” are informal ways to call a claim false, while “rubbish” can describe an idea as worthless or absurd. The direct synonym relationship makes this the most accessible group in the puzzle; the published #820 clue guide also identifies these four words as the nonsense set.
How do CRANK, HIKE, JACK, and RAISE mean increase with “up”?
CRANK, HIKE, JACK, and RAISE can all be followed by “up” to describe increasing something. You can crank up the volume, hike up prices, jack up a rate, or raise up a quantity or level. The category depends on testing the full phrase rather than grouping words by their surface meanings; the #820 explanation of the green group uses the same verb-plus-“up” mechanism.
Which fictional spies are ARCHER, HUNT, PEEL, and POWERS?
ARCHER, HUNT, PEEL, and POWERS refer to fictional spies: Sterling Archer from Archer, Ethan Hunt from the Mission: Impossible films, Emma Peel from The Avengers, and Austin Powers from the Austin Powers films. The group is harder to spot because it mixes television and film characters instead of using four names from one franchise. The full character-name breakdown confirms the references.
What words complete the “cat ___” group?
FISH, NAP, TAIL, and WALK form familiar compounds when “cat” is placed before each word: catfish, catnap, cattail, and catwalk. This is a phrase-completion category rather than a subject category, so it is easier to recognize after the more direct groups have been removed. The complete compound-word solution lists the same four purple answers.
What is the best solving order for Connections #820?
The most reliable order is to solve the direct synonym group first, test the “up” phrases second, identify the fictional spies third, and leave the “cat ___” compounds for last.
- Start with BALONEY, BULL, BUNK, and RUBBISH. Their shared “nonsense” meaning is the clearest connection.
- Test CRANK, HIKE, JACK, and RAISE with “up.” The words do not look like a natural semantic set until the particle is added.
- Remove ARCHER, HUNT, PEEL, and POWERS. Once the other eight words are gone, the fictional-spy references become more apparent.
- Finish with FISH, NAP, TAIL, and WALK. “Cat” creates four common compounds.
Why are HIKE and WALK a red herring?
HIKE and WALK look like a pair because both can describe movement, but HIKE belongs to the “increase, with ‘up’” group and WALK belongs to the “cat ___” group. “Hike up” can mean increase, especially when discussing prices or rates, while “catwalk” is the relevant compound for WALK. Separating the words by their completed phrases prevents the movement-based misread; the September 8 puzzle analysis highlights this trap.
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How difficult was NYT Connections #820?
According to Connections Companion’s 2025 editor rating, puzzle #820 had a difficulty rating of 3.5/5. The puzzle combines a very direct yellow synonym group with a phrase-based green group, a pop-culture blue group, and a compound-word purple group. The biggest red-herring risk is the apparent HIKE-WALK movement pair, while the fictional-spy category requires cultural knowledge across several television and film characters.
Difficulty by group
| Group | Directness | Cultural knowledge | Red-herring risk | Mechanism |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NONSENSE | High | Low | Low | Semantic category |
| INCREASE, WITH “UP” | Medium | Low | Medium | Verb-plus-particle phrase |
| FICTIONAL SPIES | Medium | High | Medium | Proper-name reference |
| CAT ___ | Medium | Low | High | Compound-word completion |
Want more screen-free NYT-style puzzles?
Readers who enjoy Connections may want to try Puzzle Mania!: Wordle, Connections, Spelling Bee, Minis and More!, a hardcover collection from The New York Times Games. The official publisher page describes the book as containing new spins on Connections along with other New York Times Games puzzles. The collection is a broader offline puzzle option, not a book containing Connections #820 or a guide to solving this exact grid.
The Bottom Line
Connections #820 for September 8, 2025, groups the words into nonsense terms, verbs that pair with “up,” fictional spies, and “cat ___” compounds. Solve BALONEY, BULL, BUNK, and RUBBISH first, then watch for the HIKE-versus-WALK red herring.
Quick Recap
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